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THE 



REBELLION, 



-OR 



"History of the Late Civil War 



IN THE 



UNITED STATES. 

J. W. BUHOUP, 

Author of the " History of the Mexican War." 



The most complete History ever offered to the Public, 

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i-15A3 



CONTENTS. 



(UIAI'TKi; IV. 

Ai'KIl,, ISCil. 

Entliiisinsiu of the I'cople. :iiul Raseness of Contractors— Marcli of the Uegiments — The Massachusetts 
Sixtti Attacked in Baltiniore— Dejiarturc of tlie Seventh New York— Entliusiasm South— Fears of the People 
and Mayor of Baltimore— Collision Prevented by the Troops Going by Way of Annajjolis — Their Arrival at 
Washington— Defection in tlie Army and Navy— IJobert E. Lee— Eilect of the States' Eights Doctrine— Great 
Union Meeting iu New York— Its Reception South— Proclamation of the President Increasing the Standing 
Army— Tennessee Joins the South— Action of the Government— Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus- 
Mistake in Not Calling Congress Together Sooner. 

CHAPTER V. 

Mav-Juke, 18t;i. 

Public Expectation- Position of the Forces in Front of Washington— Appointment of Generals— Occu- 
pation of Alexandria— Murder of Colonel Ellsworth— Efiect on the North— Fight at Big Bethel— Feeling of 
the People Respecting It— Captain Lyon at St. Louis— Refuses to Obey the Public Commissioners of the City- 
Takes the Entire Force of Governor Jackson and General Price, Prisoners— His Troops Mobbed— Pursues 
Jackson— Fight at Booneville— Generiil Harney— His Vacillating Course— McClellan Made Major-General and 
Sent to Western Virginia — His Past Career — Harper's Ferry Evacuated — Concentration of the Rebels at Man- 
assas Junction— Fight at Phillippi— Kelly Wounded — Schenck Surprised near Vienna— The Question of 
Fugitive Slaves — Capture of the First Rebel Privateer, Savannah — The Privateer Sumter at Sea. 

CHAPTER VI. 

June, 18(il. 

McClellan Takes Command of the Army in Western Virginia — Advances on the Enemy — Battle of Rich 
Mountain — Gallant Action of Roseoranz — Of Lander— Defeat of Pegram and Capture of His Forces — Pursuit of 
Garnett — Action of Carrick's Ford — A Terrible March — Death of Garnett — Defeat of His Forces — Fox on 
Kanhawa— Action of Barboui?sville— Retreat of Wise— Close of the Campaign iu Western Virginia— Sigel in 
Missouri— Battle of Carthage— His Admirable Retreat — State of Kentucky — LTnionism in Eastern Tennessee. 

CHAPTER VII. 

July, WM. 

Meeting of Congress— President's Message— Chief Commanders on Both Sides at Tliis Time— The "On 
to Richmond" Cry— The Question of Funds— Lack of Statesmen in Congress— The Radical Element — Incrcjis- 
ing the Navy — An Onward Movement Decided Upon — Reasons for It — Johnson and Patterson — McDowell to 
Command the Army — His Departure for Manassas — Splendid Appearance of — Artillery Fight at Bhi' ' 
Ford — Advance of the Army from Centreville — Plan of the Battle — Hunter and Heintzelman — P.iy a 
Run— The Defeat— The Rout — Danger of the Capital— Effect of the News on the North— Ca extend 
of the Overthrow — Surrender of Fort Fillmore in New Jlexico. 



Y 



CONTENTS 



PART FIRST 



CHAPTER I. 

Prior to 1861. 

I 

Cause of the RelDellion — Danger of Sectional Parties — History of Slavery in the Government — Causes of 
Hostility between the North and South — Missouri Compromise — Hostile Legislation in the States — Congress — 
The Whig and Democratic Parties — Necessity of a New Party in the Place of the Whig — The Republican 
Party — Southern Conspirators — Their Plan — Election of Lincoln — First Steps towards Disunion. 

CHAPTER IL 
December, 1860 — April, 1861. 

South Carolina takes the Lead — Reception South of its Act of Secession — Anderson in Fort Sumter — 
Distraction of the Government — Resignation of Southerners — The North Divided — Progress of Disunion 
South — Seizure of National Property — Star of the West — Scenes in Congress — Rights of the People — Riglit of 
Secession — Lincoln's Passage to Washington and Inauguration — His Cabinet — Virginia — ^Southern Commis- 
sioners — Fort Sumter — Preparations for its Bombardment. 

CHAPTER TH. 

April, 1861. 

First Sliot at Fort Sumter — Its Fearful Significance — The Bombardment — Surrender of — Exultation of 

+'. People of Charleston — Reception of the News North — Union of All Parties — Proclamation of the Presi- 

"^lling for Seventy-five Thousand Troops — Response of the North — Reply to it by Southern Governors — 

^f the North — Delusion of Both Sections — Davis Calls for Southern Volunteers and for Privateers — 

-Embarrassments of the Government — Surrender of Norfolk — Surrender of Harper's Ferry 

'^ Arsenal. 



PREFACE. 



The earth has been cursed with civil wars from the earliest times in which we have records of the race. 
Though characterized by more or less ferocity, and assuming various shapes, they all may be divided into two 
•general classes. Those that occur under a despotic form of government, spring from oppression which the 
l)eople, no longer able to bear, venture all the terrible hazard of a resolution to throw off. Those that take place 
under a democratic form of government, are brought about by a few ambitious men, who seek by faction to 
obtain power. 

Those of the former class possess dignity and grandeur, from the fact that they are based on the great 
doctrine of human rights. Man asserting his inherent, God-given rights on the battle field against overwhelm- 
ing odds, is a sublime spectacle. 

The latter are based on falsehoods, and kept ahve by deception. Such were the civil wars of the early 
republics. 

In the time of Cromwell, both religious and civil liberty were the grand prizes of the struggle ; and 
whether we look at Hampden, calmly suffering for the sake of liberty, or at Cromwell's Ironsides, sweeping 
like a thunder cloud to battle, with the fearful war cry, " Religion," on their lips, our deepest sympathies and 
admiration are excited, and we forget the horrors of the carnage in the mighty stake at issue. So in the bloody 
revolution of France ; though the views of the masses were vague, and their speech often "incoherent, yet 
when we behold inscribed on their banner the great charter of human rights, and the head of a king thrown 
down as the gage of battle, we no longer see the crimson field with its " garments rolled in blood," we see only 
• the divine image of human liberty hovering over it. 

Ours is of a mixed character, and hence in some respects unlike all others that have preceded it ; but 
like all civil wars in republics, it sprung from a faction who sought only political power. Those make a great 
mistake who suppose it grew out of a desire merely to perpetuate slavery. Slavery was used as a means to an 
end — a bugbear to frighten the timid into obedience, and a rallying cry for the ignorant, deluded masses. The 
accursed lust of power lay at the bottom of it. 

The entire North, including the Republican party, had repeatedly- declared, in the most emphatic 
manner, that it had no intention to interfere with slavery in the States where it existed ; for they had no right 
to do so under the Constitution. Its po-petuili/ there was conceded, until the States themselves should get rid/oi 
it. Hence, the Southern conspirators had no fear on that point, but they knew they could not carry the people 
with them unless ffiey convinced them that slavery was to be assailed in their very homes, to be followed by a 
servile insurrection. They desired, of course, to extend slavery, because in that way alone they could extend 



PREFACE. 



their power. The perpetuity of slavery was a necessary consequence of all this ; because the power they 
sought to obtain was founded on it — it was the chief corner-stone. Here is where the mistake is made in get- 
ting at the true cause of the rebellion. 

The whole question may be stated thus : Southern politicians saw in the rapid increase of the free States, 
both in number and population, and the deep hostility to the admission of any more slave States, that the 
power they had so long wielded in the Government would be broken. 

The only course left them was to set up an independent government. Though they might be weak at 
first, slave States could be added, as circumstances should determine. To effect their purpose they would seize 
on the tariff, or slavery, or anything else that would unite the South. Calhoun tried the former, and failed; they, 
the latter, and succeeded. Thus it will be seen that the perpetuity and extension of slavery is a necessary con- 
sequence of the late rebellion, if successful; not its first cause,— just as free trade would have followed the 
attempt of Calhoun to take the South out of the Union, had it succeeded. 

The great, moving cause was the desire of power — slavery the platform on which they worked their diabolical 
machinery. 

This was unquestionably the view taken by our Government, and the cause of its extreme leniency at 
first, which so many condemned. It sought to disabuse the people of the idea that we meant to attack their 
peculiar institutions, and hoped they would see that they were being duped and led into ruin by desperate, 
unscrupulous, ambitious men. So also did the mass of the Northern people view it, and hence rushed to arms, 
feeling but little animosity, except toward the leaders. The " Constitution " was their rallying cry— the pres- 
ervation of the Government the sublime motive that sent them to the field of carnage. 

On the one hand, the world saw men crowding to battle, pretending to fight for the very freedom which 
they were all the time in the full enjoyment of— on the other hand, more than a million of citizens rising in 
arms, with no object beyond the desire to see their enemies secure in that very freedom. 



THE REBELLION, 



CHAPTER I. 
Priok to 1861. 



If Hudibras was right in his assumption, that there 
is and can he no fighting where one party gives all 
the blows — the other being content with meekly and 
patiently receiving them— then it might be plausibly 
contended that our great Civil War was initiated by 
the bombardment of Fort Sumter, or by the attempt 
to supply its famishing garrison, some weeks after 
Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. But Wit stands opposed 
to Reason in this case, as in many others. The first 
attempt in the interest of Secession to disposses the 
Union, by force, of any property or position held by 
it, even though not seriously opposed, was as truly 
an act of war as though it had been desperately re- 
sisted, at the cost of hundreds of lives. 

The Rebellion of 18G1 forms one of the most ex- 
traordinary chaptersin human history that the pen of 
the historian was ever called upon to record. 

States having a common interest and origin, bap- 
tised in the same patriotic blood, were arrayed 
against each other in deadly strife — families divided, 
parents against children, and brothers against broth- 
ers — churches with a common faith and communion 
split asunder, and ministers and people who had 
wept at the same altar, suddenly began to pray each 
for the other's discomfiture ; and the happiest land 
the sun ever shone upon became drenched in fra- 
ternal blood, and filled with sighs and lamentations ; 
and posterity will ask, for what? Volumes have and 
will be written on the causes that led to these appall- 
ing evils, and the guilt be placed upon this or that 
class or section, according to the peculiar views or 
prejudices of the writer. The time has not yet come 
for the people to receive a just, dispassionate account 
of them. A generation, at least, must pass away, 
before this can be done. With the frightful catastro- 
phe which had overtaken us, full in view, no section 



or party was willing to accept the responsibility of 
its existence. All know the immediate cause of it. 
The North and South were at length arrayed against 
each other in two great political parties, on the ques- 
tion of slavery. The Northern party triumphed ; 
and though no illegal act was charged against it, and 
no pretense offered that it had not succeeded in a le- 
gitimate, constitutional way, the defeated Southern 
party refused to accept the decision of the ballot 
box, and rushing into open revolt, proceeded to organ- 
ize a government of its own. Unreasonable, unnat- 
ural, and criminal as this course appears, it was in 
perfect keeping with the history of former republics, 
and an event which every one not blinded by fanat- 
icism, or selfishness, or ignorance, or contempt of the 
past, could easily have foretold without any spirit of 
prophecy. It makes no dilierence what the cause 
may be, whether slavery, unequal legislation, or im- 
aginary evils ; whenever East and West, or North and 
South, shal' now, or hereafter, stand arrayed against 
each other in hostile political parties, if the attitude 
is maintained, peaceful dissolution or civil war must 
follow. It was in view of this possible calamity, 
that Washington, in his farewell address, used the 
following language : " In contemplating the causes 
that may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of 
serious concern, that any ground shall have been 
furnished for characterizing parties by geographical 
discriminations. Northern and Southern, Atlantic and 
Western, whence designing men may endeavor to ex- 
cite a belief that there is a real dilierence of local in- 
terests and views." 

This advice it is the historian's imperative duty 
to impress on the public mind, let whatever party or 
section of the country be guilty of political factions, 
based on geographical lines. How much it may be 



THE REBELLION. 



the duty of one portion to suffer from the aggressions 
of another, before it ought to stand up in its own de- 
fense, is strictly another question — the great truth 
which should be engraven, as with the point of a dia- 
mond, on the public heart, is this : Whenever the position 
IS. taken, let it be assumed with the full understanding and 
consent that it shall end in peaceful separation or open 
war. Let the people never again be deluded by ig- 
norant, selfish leaders, into the belief that it can be 
done without danger. Whenever the first step is 
taken towards the arraying of one section of this 
country against the other, in a political contest, let 
every one who engages in it, make up his mind to go 
to the bitter end, and not delude himself and others, 
by the contemptuous cry of " no danger." Boastful 
and proud as we as a people undoubtedly are, we 
shall alwaj'S find in the end, that we form no excep- 
tion to the history of nations. What has wrecked 
other republics, if persisted in, will assuredly wreck 
us. Our advanced civilization and Christianity, can- 
not avail us to escape their doom, except as they 
enable us to avoid their errors and crimes. 

But though the time has not yet come for a calm 
and dispassionate discussion of all the causes that 
brought ^bout this rebellion, certain historical events 
may be given as the foundation for our own judgment. 
This, too, is necessary to any right understanding of 
it. When we had achieved our independence of Great 
Britain, and our patriotic sires assembled to lay the 
foundation of the new government, they found them- 
selves confronted with a glaring inconsistencj', which 
they could see no way to avoid incorporating into the 
very structure itself — viz., slavery. Right in the face 
.of the declaration of independence, by which the re- 
bellion had been justified, and on which the battle 
had been fought and won, they had to accept human 
slavery as one of the strange features of the new re- 
public. To us it seems a singular providence that 
fastened this necessity upon them. They felt the em- 
barassment it produced, and feared the evils that 
would result from giving such an incongruous, de- 
moralizing thing a place in the temple of liberty. 
They solaced themselves, however, with the hope that 
it would gradually disappear under the benign in- 
fluence of free institutions, and the palpable advan- 
tages of free labor. Their anticipations were to a 
certain extent realized, and State after State released 
itself from the curse of slavery, until emancipation 
reached nearly to the parallel of thirty. Here its 
progress was arrested, though in Maryland, Virginia, 
and Kentucky, influences were at work which prom- 



ised before long to place them beside the free States 
of the North. Bills were introduced into their legis- 
latures, looking to gradual emancipation; and the 
subject was publicly and fully discussed within their 
borders till it looked, for a time, as though the prob- 
lem of slavery was to have a peaceful and happy 
solution. Independent of moral considerations, on 
the score of economy alone, it was plain that these 
States should range themselves on the side of freedom. 
But just at this critical period, a few violent aboli- 
tionists commenced a fierce crusade against slavery 
and slaveholders. This alarmed the timid, lest emanci- 
pation should end in insurrection; and enraged others, 
who would not be driven by vituperation into anj' 
measure, until all thought of gradual emancipation 
was dropped. Added to this, the cultivation of cotton 
rapidly acquired prominence as a source of wealth, 
and the importation of slaves being prohibited, the 
value of those in the country who were needed for its 
production, necessarily became very much enhanced. 
Thus the hope of the extinction of slavery, which 
most looked to at soqje future period, was gradually 
abandoned bj' the Southern States, and it was ac- 
cepted as a permanent institution. It then became 
necessary to defend and strengthen it. To do this, it 
must have its proportion of the new States that were 
constantly asking for admission ; for the moral sense 
of the North was becoming more and more averse to 
a system fraught with every abomination that dis- 
graced the darkest days of feudalism. Here was the 
starting point of the collision between the North and 
the South, which finally resulted in an appeal to 
arms. To let slavery extend itself, and move beside 
freedom in the enlargement of the Republic, was re- 
volting to civilization and Christianity, as well as 
clearly contrary to the jjurpose and expectations of 
the framers of the Constitution. Still, neither of the 
great political parties would incorporate this senti- 
ment into their platforms, and the warfare between 
freedom and slavery assumed a desultory character ; 
and various propositions and compromises were 
offered to get rid of the vexed question, till finally the 
" Missouri Compromise," fixing the Southern boun- 
dary of that State as the line beyond which, south- 
ward, freedom should not go, and beyond which, 
northward, slavery should not be extended, seemed 
to make a final disposition of it ; for no one proposed 
to interfere with slavery in the States where it ex- 
isted. But the tide of emigration, rolling westward, 
peopling with marvellous rapidity our wild territory, 
soon revealed the startling fact, that in a short time 



THE RKHKrJ.ION. 



the free States would greatly outnumber those in 
which slavery could be established. 

Tlie South naturally became alarmed at the pros- 
pect of thus being put in a hopeless minority, and 
proportionably bitter in its feelings toward the North. 
The repeal of this compromise awakened a feeling of 
intense indignation throughout the North, and had it 
been exclusively a Southern measure, might have been 
attended by disastrous consequences. But being 
introduced by Mr. Douglas, a Northern man, and 
voted for l)y many Northern Democrats, it could not 
wholly be charged on the South. In the meantime, 
the fertile plains of Kansas had attracted settlers into 
it, and it was seen that a new State, which lay mostly 
north of the line which the Missouri Compromise pro- 
hibited to slavery, would soon ask to be admitted 
into the Union. Immediately there arose a fierce 
struggle between the North and South, respecting the 
future status of the State on the subject of slavery. 
It is now evident, tliat had it been let alone, the char- 
acter of the emigrants would have settled it without 
bloodshed. But as it was, the young and struggling 
territory became the theatre of a terrible strife, which 
shook the Nation to its center. 

It must not be forgotten, that during these years 
of increasing excitement and danger to the Republic, 
though the General Government stood uncommitted 
to either sectifin of the country, the States, North 
and South, in their sovereign capacity, legislated 
against each other, and intensified the bitter hatred, 
the end of which every patriotic statesman trembled 
to contemplate. Freedom was declared in some 
States to belong to every slave brought northward by 
his master, while fugitives, whose rendition was com- 
manded by tlie Constitution, could, in many places, 
no longer be recovered with any certainty, or if so, at 
an expense that discouraged the attempt. On the 
other hand, pains and penalties were inflicted on 
"Abolitionists," as all were termed who dared to ex- 
press sentiments condemnatory of slavery, by the 
Southern States, and men, and even women, were 
subjected to treatment that would disgrace barba- 
rians. These acts, in turn, exasperated the North, 
and the feeling of indignation was intensified still 
niv,. '-"y lecturers, who carefully collated all true and 
reported instances of cruelty to slaves, and retailed 
them to Northern audiences. Thus, the breach be- 
tween the North and South gradually widened, till, 
without some radical change, it became apparent that 
a separation, or an attempted separation, was inevi- 
table. Scenes were enacted in every Congress that 



did not tend to allay the excitement, and we gradu- 
ally became more hostile in feeling and sentiment 
than any two entirely separate luitions in the civil- 
ized world. In this state of the i)ublic mind, the Whig 
jiarty, which, with the J)emocratic, had by turns 
ruled the Nation, fell into a hopeless minority. The 
United States bank, tariff, sub-treasury, etc., which 
had furnished its platform, were finally disposed of. 
The American j>arty completed its demoralization, 
and there was nothing left for it to rally on. In this 
emergency, some of its old leaders cast about for some- 
thing on wliii'h to reorganize a new party, and seeing 
how deej) and wide-spread was the anti-slavery sen- 
timent of the North, determined to make it, in some 
form, its platform. This was tlie first great step to- 
wards placing the North and South face to face with 
each other in a struggle for the control of the Govern- 
ment. In ordinary times, the advice of Washington, 
which the ])eople had been taught to revere, and their 
common instincts, would have rendered this attempt 
powerless to do evil. But the outrages committed in 
Kansas on free citizens, by lawless ruffians, who pro- 
claimed themselves the champions of slavery, and the 
worse than brutal attack on Mr. Sumner, in his seat 
in the Senate, awakened such a feeling of indignation 
at the Nortii, that it threatened, for a time, to over- 
leap every oljstaclc, and, if need be, rush to arms to 
avenge the insults and wrongs heaped upon it. 

The election, hoM^cr, resulted in the defeat of the 
Republican party, and election of Mr. Buchanan, and 
all immediate danger of a disruption of the Union 
seemed to be over. It would have been, but for some 
few Southern conspirators, who for many years had 
plotted the overthrow of the Government, and only 
waited a favorable opportunity to give success to their 
schemes. They had been able, under the excitement 
of the political canvass through which they had 
passed, so to educate and poison the public mind of 
a portion of the South, that they saw, with skillful 
management, they could make the future triumph of 
the Republican party a pretext on which they could 
raise successfully the flag of Secession; and from that 
moment their dark and hellish purpose was taken. 
The North little dreamed of this, and, meditating no 
disloyalty against the Government, did not imagine 
those political leaders, though bold and unscrupulous, 
would dare raise their parricidal hand against it. 

Buchanan's administration, though characterized 
by imbecility and a disregard of the grave responsi- 
bilities of his high position, was quietly acquiesced 
in, and the freedom of Kansas being secured, the 



10 



THE EEBP^LLION. 



public feeling of the North became more calm. At 
the uext election, in 18G0, though the Republicans 
took the bold, unprecedented step of selecting both 
their candidates on the electoral ticket from the 
North, thus inevitably making a direct sectional is- 
sue, very little apprehension was excited. All our 
wide domain, except the Territory of New Mexico, 
was disjoosed of, and that, as far as it could be, by 
any immediate action of the Government; and there 
seemed nothing to contend for but political suprem- 
acy, for its own sake. The Southern conspirators 
were perfectly aware of this, and knew that if the 
Southern States went together in a solid body, they 
could carry enough Northern ones to secure the elec- 
tion. The nomination of Douglas, they knew, and 
all knew, would be ef|uivalent to his election. They 
were satisfied, also, that under his administration 
they would suffer no invasion of their rights. But 
they had got beyond the desii'e to control the Gov- 
ernment — they determined to have an independent, 
Southern one. To effect this, they resolved to sow 
division in their own ranks, and thus secure the suc- 
cess of the Republican party. They did so, and, 
leaving the campaign to its inevitable result, spent 
their time and efforts in preparing for a revolution. 
Yancey and Davis were outwardly the leaders in this 
foul conspiracy, while Floyd and Thompson, mem- 
bers of Buchanan's cabinet, were secretly using their 
official positions as members of the Government, and 
perjuring themselves in the presence of Heaven and 
the civilized world, to carry it on. The former, as 
Secretary of War, had, as far as lay in his power, so 
arranged the commands of the different forts, and 
distributed the army, and accumulated arms at the 
South, as to cripple the incoming administration, and 
render it powerless to assert the rights of the Govern- 
ment. 



The election of Mr. Lincoln took place early in 
November, and almost immediately the extreme South 
set in motion the already prepared scheme of dissolu- 
tion. Though the falsehoods that had been freely 
circulated respecting the designs of the Republicans 
— which they said were to emancipate the slaves and 
arm them against their masters, — and the triumph of 
a Northern party, naturally excited indignation and 
alarm; yet, when the hour came for the final blow to 
be struck which should dismember this great Repub- 
lic, even the hardened leaders trembled. Northern 
fanatics and Southern conspirators had for years 
talked about disunion with a lightness that seemed 
close akin to madness, and laughed at the fears and 
warnings of statesmen, whom they stigmatized as 
"Union savers." Yet they hesitated when they stood 
on the brink of the yawning abyss, whose mysterious 
depths, notwithstanding, their vaunted confidence, 
they feared to try. The people, csijecially, started back 
from so hazardous an experiment. In this crisis, the 
Southern leaders tried in various ways to defend their 
own course, or to satisfy the i^eople it was safe and 
right. To the timid they declared that no war would 
follow the act of secession, for a large portion of the 
North, they alleged, sympathized with them, and de- 
nounced, as bitterly as they did, the sectional, aggres- 
sive action of the Republicans, and would never per- 
mit them to hold their power by force of arms. This 
was unquestionably true at the time. To all they 
siiid, submission now was vassalage forever. Mean- 
while the whole South was tossed on a sea of agita- 
tion, some wishing to delay final action till there 
could be a convention of all the Southern States, so 
as to secure harmony, others declaring that delay 
would give the North time to organize and consoli- 
date its power. 



CHAPTER II. 



December, 18G0 — April, 1861. 



The secession of South Carolina was hailed with 
instant and general exultation by the plotters of dis- 
union in nearly every slave State. There were cele- 
brations, with parades, music, cannon-firing, speeches, 
etc., on that evening or the following day, at New Or- 
leans, Mobile, Memphis, etc. Even at Wilmington, 
Del., where the Secessionists were few indeed, the 
event was honored by a salute of a hundred guns. 
Senator Andrew Johnson was still more honored, on 



the 22nd, by being burned in effigy by the Secession- 
ists of Memphis. While the Northern cities were 
anxious, apprehensive and paralyzed, it was noted 
that at Baltimore, though no formal celebration was 
had, people seemed relieved and cheerful ; the streets 
were gayly crowded, and business was better. At 
Washington, Mr. Garnett, of Virginia, exultingly an- 
nounced the fact of South Carolina's secession in the 
House ; whereupon three or four Southrons clapped 



Till'] KKHKI.LloX. 



11 



their hands. There was no furthur public manifes- 
tation in Congress, and none north of the Virginia 
line, save in Wilmington, as aforesaid. 

A mere handful of Federal troops, under Maj. 
Robert Anderson, watched rather than garrisoned the 
forts in Charleston Harbor. Of these. Fort Moultrie, 
though the older and weaker, was mainly tenanted 
by the soldiers, being the more convenient to tla' city; 
but it could not have been held a daj' against a 
serious assault. Its garrison found themselves sud- 
denly surrounded by scowling, deadly foes, too nu- 
merous to be resisted. During the night of the 26th, 
Maj. Anderson properly and prudently transferred liis 
entire command to Fort Sumter, taking with them, 
or after them, all provisions, munitions, etc., that 
could conveniently be transported. The removal was 
efleeted by means of two schooners, which made sev- 
eral trips during the night, passing directly by the 
harbor guard-boat, .Vma, and affecting no conceal- 
ment. A full moon was shining in a clear sky. When 
all that could be had been removed, the remaining 
gun-carriages, etc., were burnt, so as to prevent their 
use in any future attack upon Sumter. No resistance 
was otiered ; perhaps none of a serious nature could 
have been, for Maj. Anderson's act was evidently un- 
anticipated in Charleston ; but it was gravely com- 
jjlaincd of as a breach of faith — Piesident Buchanan, 
it was implied, rather than distinctly alleged, having 
promised that the military status should not be 
clianged, without due notice. The news of Ander- 
son's movement sent a thrill through the hearts of 
many, who felt that we were silently drifting toward 
a'sea of fraternal blood. 

Almost simultaneously with this transfer, a popular 
excitement was aroused in Pittsburg, Pa., by infor- 
mation that an order had been received from the War 
Department for an extensive transfer of arms, es- 
pecially of heavy ordnance, from the Alleghany Ar- 
senal, near that place, to the South and Southwest. 
That such transfers had been quietly going on for 
months, did not reconcile the stanch Republicans of 
our American Birmingham to further operations of 
the kind, now palpably in the interest of Southern 
treason. A public meeting was called, dispatches sent 
to Washington, and an order obtained suspending the 
meilitated transfer. The citizens' meeting was held 
■on the evening of the 'iTtb, and its resolves, while 
they dej)recate<l any lawless resistance to oilicial or- 
ders, called urgently on the President to |)urge his 
Cabinet of every one known to be in complicity with 
trea;-on or nbrliion against tlie Federal tlovernnient 



and Thiion. Joiin B. Floyd immediately resigned his 
position as Secretary of War, on the ground that the 
President had broken his promise that no movement 
should be made in Charleston, while negotiations were 
pending for the adjustment of difliculties. 

The South Carolina troops then took possession of 
the arsenal of the city, containing many sta"nds of 
arms and a large quantity of military stores, while 
strong fortilications were ordered to be erected 
around l'\irt Sumter. 

The new year opened gloomy enough. Southern 
meiibers of Congress had begun to resign their seats 
— the wildest excitement was sweeping the Gulf 
States, and before the rising storm, the General Gov- 
ernment seemed crumbling to atoms. Buchanan 
having surrounded himself with Southern advisers, 
and lacking both the firmness and resolution neces- 
sary to a chief executive in such trying circumstan- 
ces, vacillated, temporized and delayed — thus 
strengthening the confidence of the conspirators, 
and discouraging the loyal men of the North. 
Added to all this, the feeling of the North was 
divided. The exasperated feelings that had at- 
tended the campaign of the foil ])revious, had not 
yet subsided, and thousands were willing that an ad- 
ministration which, they asserted, was coming into 
power on a sectional issue, and which had been 
pushed directly in the face of the very troubles which 
now threatened the Rei)ublic, should be hampered, 
and, if needs be, overthrown. All was confusion, 
doubt, and anger, and the nation reeled to and fro 
on the surging, conflicting elements of popular jias- 
sion. 

Between those at the North, anxious only for the 
preservation of party, and those reckless of conse- 
(luences in their fierce indignation against those who, 
from mere political ambition, they said, had brought 
about this appalling state of things, and those who 
had foreseen and foretold all this, and now looked on 
in still desi)air, there seemed no hope for the Repub- 
lic. South, also, there was almost equal distraction 
and division ; for between the better class of people, 
still adhering to the old Government, or at all events 
unwilling to hazard the experiment of inaugurating 
a new one, and those intent on dissolution, there 
seemed to be an irreconcilable antagonism. The 
S lutiiern leaders alone appeared e.ilm ami resolute, 
and pursued the course they hail marked out with 
unfaltering determination. 

In the meantime, troops wereHdrilling in the vari- 
ous SouthernjStat«'S. andJState after Stati' went out of 



12 



THE REBELLION. 



the Union, and ranged itself under the leadership of 
South Carolina. 

The Governor of North Carolina celebrated the in- 
coming year by the seizure of Fort Macon, at Beau- 
fort, the forts at Wilmington, and the United States 
arsenal at Fayetteville ; and the Governor of Georgia 
by the seizure of Fort Pulaski. Southern Commis- 
sioners were sent to Washington to consult with the 
Government, and to the Border States to secure 
their co-operation. The North Carolina troops took 
possession of Forts Caswell and Johnson, and Secre- 
tary Thompson resigned his seat in the Cabinet. The 
Mississippi State Convention passed the ordinance of 
Secession, followed by Florida, and Fort Barrancas, 
and the Navy Yard at Pensacola, fell into the posses- 
sion of the State troops. Louisiana soon followed, 
completing her ignominy by seizing the United 
States mint and sub-treasury at New Orleans, in 
which were half a million of dollars. In the mean- 
time, the steamer Star of the West, sent to reinforce 
Fort Sumter, was fired into in the bay of Charleston, 
and was compelled to return, amid the suppressed 
murmurs of the people. The Little Rock arsenal 
with its munitions of war was seized by the State 
troops of Arkansas, and by the latter end of Febru- 
ary a Southern Confederacy was formed, and a pro- 
visional Government established at Montgomery, 
Alabama, at the head of which was placed Jefferson 
Davis as President. As the time drew near for the 
inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, and the assumption of 
the Government by the Republican party, the South- 
ern conspirators seemed to redouble their energy, for 
they knew that their career, which thus for had been 
smooth and unobstructed, would meet with a sudden 
check. 

In the meantime, the appointment of Mr. HoJt, of 
Kentucky, as Secretary of War, and Mr. Dix, of New 
York, Secretary of the Treasury, in the places of 
Thompson and Floyd, arrested the Government in 
its downward rush, infused some little life and seem- 
ing patriotism into Mr. Buchanan, and erected a sort 
of breakwater, to check the devastating flow of the 
waves of sedition. General Twiggs, commanding the 
Department of Texas, was dismissed from the United 
States service, fur having surrendered the military 
posts and other property under his charge to the State 
autliorities, and the most peremptory orders were is- 
sued by Mr. Dix to National officers in the Southern 
States. 

The revolt of South Carolina, at the first had 
awakened very different feelings in different classes 



at the North. The more thoughtful saw in it the 
beginning of evils, the end of which no man could 
foresee. Otliers, who had learned to despise this 
splenetic, captious and disloyal State, only laughed at 
it, as an ebullition to be exjiected, and that would 
soon subside. But as the revolt rapidly spread, all 
saw that an abyss was opening under the Nation, 
which would require the most consummate prudence 
to sjjan. 

It is necessary now to go back a little, to the meet- 
ing of Congress in December. Most of the Southern 
members took their seats as usual. It was evident, 
however, that they had done this, not to allay excite- 
ment or adjust difficulties, or even to obtain redress 
of grievances : but to endeavor to influence public 
opinion in their favor, alarm the Government into 
submission, and renderthe final act of separation more 
imposing and formal. Specious arguments, heartless 
propositions and threats, were used by turns. Mason, 
from Virginia, Slidell and Benjamin, from Louisiana, 
and Wigfall, from Texas, were the leading spirits in 
the Senate. The former was haughty, malignant 
and cautious ; Slidell, artful and hypocritical ; and 
Wigfall, open, specious and daring. The arguments 
used were various, and calculated to influence differ- 
ent classes, North and South. To-day it was an ap- 
peal to the North to let the South go peaceably and 
without resistance. They said "You hate us and we 
hate you — our social systems are entirely opposite, 
and can never harmonize. You declare that slavery 
is repugnant to free institutions, and a disgrace to 
the Republic — now, as you cannot get rid of it, let us 
go by ourselves, and bear the obloquy alone. If w£ 
cannot live together peaceably, let us separate ami- 
cably, and form treaties of friendship like foreign 
nations.. Why insist on a union that is only so in 
name ? " etc. To-morrow, it was a long recapitula- 
tion of the wrongs heaped upon the South by the 
North: " They had been assailed in every form, and 
the North was determined to deprive them of their 
share of the territory which had been won by common 
valor, or been paid for from the common fund. The 
rights guaranteed by a common Constitution, such as 
the return of fugitive slaves, had been struck down, and 
a compact broken in any particular was abrogated alto- 
gether. "It was the height of injustice," they claimed, 
" to rob them of the protection guaranteed by that in- 
strument and yet demand of them continued allegiance 
to it." There was a semblance of truth iu some of these 
allegations, and though laughed at and ridiculed in 
the excitement of a political campaign, now that the 



THE REHELIilON. 



13 



Union wiis confrouloil with serious ihinger, various 
plans for an adjustment of the difficulties, and to 
guaruntoo riglits in the fiiture, were freely offered. 
At length, a committee of forty nioniliers of Con- 
gress, with Corwin, of Ohio, at its head, was ap- 
pointed to report some basis of settlement. Hut a 
spirit of acrimony and hostility governed the major- 
ity of both parties, and it was soon apparent to a 
calm looker-on, that nothing would come of_it. Be- 
sides, it was plain that the leading conspirators 
wished for no adjustment. Their complaints and 
harangues were designed solely to strengthen the oj)- 
position i)arty at the Xortb, and to draw the reluc- 
tant Border IStates into their schemes. A convention 
of the States, which was called to meet at Washing- 
ton at this time, to take into consideration the causes 
of disagreement, proved equally powerless to effect 
any good. 

Among the many propositions oifered in Congress 
and out of it, which those making them hoped would 
prevent a collision of the States, there was one by 
Mr. Crittenden, restoring the Missouri Compromise; 
another by Mr. Adams, of Massachusetts, which 
placed, in effect, the vexed ((uestion of slavery out of 
the reach of the Federal Government. Mr. Seward, 
in the Senate, made a third, which was not very def- 
inite. These two latter gentlemen showed themselves 
to be not only patriots, but statesmen; and could they 
have carried their party with them, a very different 
result would have been reached. They might not 
have prevented the rebellion, but they would have 
arrested its headway and discomfited its leaders. But 
the statesmanship of both availed nothing against 
party clamor, and their lofty patriotism could not 
stem the tide of fierce indignation that had been 
aroused by the haughty, defiant tone of the South. 

One other course only remained: to submit the 
whole question, in some form, to the people. Ours 
is a government of the people — on them fall the bur- 
dens and horrors of war, and on them, directly, should 
rest the sole responsibility of inaugurating it, espe- 
cially if it be a civil one. 

All efforts, however, proved abortive; and the ship 
of State, reeling on the turbulent waves of passion, 
drifted steadily towards the vortex of disunion. 

The chief defense made by the South, was the right 
to secede from the confederation, which the several 
States reserved to themselves when they entered it, if 
at any time they saw fit to do so. A great deal of 
able yet useles,-: argument was wasted on this (|ucstion. 
It was denied on the part of the North, for they as- 



serted that .such a right made the Union a rope of 
sand, and the Government guilty of providing for its 
own destruction. Besides, .said they, Louisiana cost 
us *l5,()()(),0()(i, Florida >!."),000,()00, to say nothing of 
^40,000,000 expended in driving the Indians from 
her swamps; and Texas, directly and indirectly, more 
than $t>(io,o()(),000, and to suppose that these States, 
as soon as they had pocketed the money of the Gov- 
ernment, rould withdraw, and set up for themselves, 
was the climax of absurdity. More than this, to 
whom did the Mississippi river belong, if it did not 
to the whole Union? The whole discussion, how- 
ever, was a waste of In-eath, for the doctrine of seces- 
sion, as explained by the South, was never acted upon 
by them. They advocated it to justify rebellion. The 
right of rebellion under unbearable oj)pression, can 
never be vitiated by former compacts, however strong, 
nor by favors, how great soever they may have been. 
If the right of secession be granted, it can take place 
only in the form, and by the legal process that 
characterized the formation of the compact. The 
State wishing to withdraw, must present herself be- 
fore the confederation, and proceed with the same 
formality and respectfulness she did when she entered 
it, and be bound by the same decision of the parlies 
concerned. If her claim is refused she must acquiesce, 
no matter how great the wrong done her. or then fall 
back on the right of secession. This the South never 
proposed to do, and to say that any Stite, when she 
entered the Confederacy, reserved to herself the right, 
whenever she saw fit, to rush to arms, seize the forts 
and soldiers, and post-offices, and mints, and ships of 
the United States, is a falsehood on the face of it, too 
gross to need a reply. And yet this is just what the 
Southern States did. It is, therefore, as before re- 
marked, a waste of breath to argue a question on 
which no action was ever taken — to discuss a right it 
was never proposed to claim. The South rushed into 
rebellion, and unless their act can be justified on the 
ground that they were greviously oppressed, and had 
exhausted every peaceable means to obtain redress, 
as we did previous to our revolt against the mother 
country, even, as we asserted, " prostrating ourselves 
at the foot of the throne " in vain appeals, they stand 
convicted of a crime too heinous to be expressed in 
language, and which will grow blacker with the lapse 
of time, till "the memory of the wicked shall rot." 

If the above succinct narrative of events be correct, 
it is easy to see that it will be vain for either the 
North or South to jirove itself entirely guiltless before 
impartial history. The great moral difference between 



14 



THE REBELLION. 



them is — the former never contemplated lifting its 
hand against the Government, while the latter de- 
liberately precipitated us into the horrors of civil war. 
The former were unwise in their action and recldess 
in the manner in which they carried out their politi- 
cal scheines — che latter were traitors in' heart, con- 
spirators while professing loyalty, and open rebels at 
last. This statement, of course, refers to the leaders. 
The majority of the Southern people were doubtless 
deceived, and believed they were in danger of subju- 
gation, and all the horrors attending a sudden eman- 
cipation of the slaves. 

To return to our summary of events, which brought 
us to the close of February, when a Southern Confed- 
eracy was formed, and the Border States were vacilla- 
ting between the North and South, we come to the 
arrival of President Lincoln in Washington, February 
23, to be inaugurated President of the United States. 

When he left Springfield, 111., the place of his resi- 
dence, a large crowd assembled to witness his depar- 
ture, and express their sympathy with him in the 
perilous duties before him. In a short speech he ex- 
pressed his thanks and desired their prayers, to which 
their hearty response was, " W^e will pray for you." 
The eyes of the nation were turned towards him in 
his progress, and every word he uttered to the differ- 
ent assemblages on the way, was carefully noted 
down and commented on. He spoke confidently 
and hopefully, saying all the disturbance visible was 
"only an artificial excitement.^' His utterances, 
though pleasing to many, gave rise to gloomy fore- 
bodings in the more thoughtful, who had been anx- 
iously waiting for some one to assume the reins of 
government that had measured the length, and 
breadth, and depth, and height of the gigantic rebel- 
lion, — who would treat it as a terrible reality. 

In the meantime, rumors had been circulated that 
he would be assassinated ou the way, or if he suc- 
ceeded in reaching the Capital, an organized mob 
would prevent- his inauguration and seize the city. 
General Scott, in command tiiere, had been informed 
of the plans of the conspirators, and took measures 
to defeat them. 

The President elect, however, had considered these 
rumors as exaggerations, and proceeded with his 
family without anticipating any trouble. But when 
he reached Philadelphia, he entered a different atmos- 
phere, and began to awake as from a dream. His 
honest heart, incapable of guile, or even of conceiving 
such monstrous atrocity, was compelled at last to ad- 
mit the terrible truth, that American citizens sought 



his life, for no other crime, than that of obeying the 
voice of the people and assuming the office to which 
their votes had elected Him ; and when he reached 
Harrisburg he left his family behind, and anticipat- 
ing the train which was to take him, proceeded in 
disguise by a special train to Washington. That a 
constitutionally-elected President of the United States, 
should be compelled to steal into the National Cap- 
ital, like a criminal, in order to enter upon his office, 
smote every loyal citizen like a personal disgrace. 
Had it been fully believed beforehand, a half a mililon 
of men would have volunteered to escort him there. 

The fourth of March, 18C1, came without violence, 
and Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated President of 
. the United States. His message was everywhere 
read withr the deepest anxiety. Its moderate tone 
gratified reasonable men, though many felt the want 
of any stirring appeal to the patriotism of the people. 
Still, the closing paragraphs, "I am loth to close. We 
are not enemies, but friends. We must not be ene- 
mies. Though passion may have strained, it must 
not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords 
of memory, stretching from every battle field and 
patriot's grave to every living heart and liearthstone, 
all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of 
the Union, when again touched, as surely they will 
be, by the better angels of our nature," struck a chord 
of sympathy in every heart. Still, kind and appeal- 
ing as these words were, it showed that he had not 
yet comprehended the full measure of liuman wicked- 
ness connected with the rebellion. This is, jjerhaps, 
not strange, for the same delusion seemed to rest on 
those who were to be his chief advisers. Mr. Seward, 
as late as the latter part of December, had said that 
in "sixty days" we should have a "brighter and 
more cheerful atmosphere." Those who designed to 
inflict no wrong, and be guilty of no injustice, could 
not comprehend the existence of such madness and 
ferocity as seemed to characterize the Southern dis- 
unionists. 

Tliree days after, Peter G. T. Beauregard, late 
Major in the engineer corps of the United States, was 
ordered by the Southern Confedci'acy, to take com- 
maud of the forces in Cliarleston, destined to act 
against Fort Sumter ; and two weeks later, supplies 
were cut off from Fort Pickens, Florida. 

The President, in forming his Cabinet, seemed not 
to comprehend the extent of the danger that 
threatened the llepublic. The selection of Mr. Sew- 
ard as Secretary of State was regarded as a wise meas- 
ure. But Mr. Cameron's claims to the responsible 



TITK IJKl'.EIJJOX. 



15 



jwsition of Secretary of AViir were baseil princiiwlly 
on political considerations. Mr. Holt luul manfully 
stood between the country and ruin, and was well 
((ualilied for the duties of that position. The Presi- 
dent, in his trying situation, needed the sympathy of 
all parties, and should have disregarded the clamor 
that sought only party ends ; and would have been 
justified in retaining Mr. Ilolt. The united patri- 
otism of the North, and a change in the course of 
the administration. aloTie saved the country from the 
incalculable evils which would otlu'rwisc have resulted 
frcini a misconception of its true condition, and the 
distribution of political rewards. 

In the meantime, a State Convention of Virginia 
had been called, to take into consideration the proj)or 
course for her to pursue in the pending crisis, and 
commissioners were appointed to confer with the 
President on his future policy. The Southern Con- 
federacy had also sent commissioners to propose terms 
of adjustment, without resorting to war. To the 
former the President made a short reply, doing little 
more than reaffirming the policy he had proclaimed 
in his message. The latter he refused to receive in 
their alleged capacity as commissioners from an inde- 
pendent Government, for it would be recognizing the 
Southern Confederacy of seven States. 

The Southern leaders had managed their cause 
with a great deal of adroitness. To the extreme 
South, they had spoken in glowing terms of the ad- 
vantages of an Independent Confederacy. To Vir- 
ginia, they had described the evils she would suffer 
in case of a civil war, which was sure to follow 
should the General Government attempt coercion of 
the revolted States, until she insisted that the only 
condition on which she could stand by the Union was, 
that no coercion should be attempted. The conspir- 
ators knew that this would never be granted. To 
Kentucky, they pointed to the rejected resolutions of 
Mr. Critenden, looking to a peaceful solution of the 
diUiculties. To Maryland — which, more than any 
other State, had cause to dread a civil war, should 
she join her fortunes with the South — the commis- 
sioners from Mississippi used the following mild lan- 
guage : " Secession is not intended to break up the 
present Government, but to perpetuate it. We do 
not propose to go out by way of breaking up or de- 
stroying the Union as our fathers gave it to 
us, but we go out for the purpose of getting 
further guarantees and security for our rights ; 
not by a convention of all the Southern 
States, nor by congressional tricks, which have failed 



in time j)a.st and will fall again. But our plan is for 
the Southern States to withdraw from the Union for 
the present, to allow amendments to the Constitution 
to be made, guaranteeing our just rights ; and if the 
Northern States will not make these amendments, by 
which these rights shall be secured to us, then we 
must secure them the best way we can. This ques- 
tion of slavery must be settled now or never," etc. 
Nothing could have been more plausible or apparently 
just than this. It is not surprising thai the j)eople of 
Maryland were deceived by these representations, for 
many Northern men were. The truth was, the 
Southern disunionists did not wish war, and they did 
not believe it would happen. The state of their finan- 
cies would not sanction it, to say nothing of the 
dubious result of a collision with the colossal power 
of the North, backed by her navy. The surest way 
to prevent this, they believed, would be to make the 
contest appear equal as possible, bj' getting the en- 
tire South to act in unison. Then the North would 
shrink from the appalling evils of a civil war, and 
grant them their independence. To secure this they 
were willing to stoop to any deception, and appar- 
ently consent to any measure the Border States might 
propose. But events were rapidly hastening to. a 
crisis. Maj. Anderson stubbornly refused to strike 
his flag to the Southern Confederacy. It is true, star- 
vation would soon compel the humiliating act. But 
whether Davis, impelled by an insane spirit of re- 
venge, or, foreseeing that war was inevitable, con- 
cluded it was best to precipitate it at once ; or 
whether the blustering, arrogant spirit of South Caro- 
lina forced him to the measure; or whether he feared 
our fleet, which had arrived oil' the mouth of the har- 
bor, might force a passage, we know not ; he refused 
to wait the sure and speedy work of famine, and de- 
termined to open his guns upon it. Notwithstanding 
the State had openly revolted, Mr. Buchanan had 
allowed the most formidable works to be constructed 
around the fort, refusing to give his sanction to 
Maj. Anderson to prevent their completion. With his 
heavy artillery, he could easily have kept the sur- 
rounding shores clear, but not a shot was permitted 
to be fired. This brave commander, with his little 
garrison of seventy-five men, saw, month after month, 
the frowning batteries rise around him, preparatory to 
opening their concentrated fire ujion him. The bat- 
teries lining the entrance to the harbor had long since 
cut him oflf from all hope of reinforcements and sup- 
jilies by sea, while not a pound of food could reach 
him from the liostile shore. Without orders to 



16 



THE REBELLION. 



abandon it, and without permission to stop the 
preparations going on for his overthrow, he 
had been compelled, day after day, and week 
after week, to sit still and watch the steadily 
rising fortifications destined to effect his humilia- 
tion. A more trying and cruel position a commander 
could not be placed in. At length the work of prep- 
aration was completed — the bomb-proof batteries at 
Fort Moultrie and on Sullivan's Island ready, and 
the floating battery in its place, with their grim col- 
umbiads pointing on the devoted garrison — and with 
that patience and serene confidence springing from 
the consciousness of having discharged his duty, and 
a firm reliance on Heaven, which had characterized 
him throughout, he now waited the coming storm. 
To the summons of Beauregard to surrender, he re- 
turned the calm reply that neither his "sense of 
honor" nor " obligations to his Government" would 



permit him to comply. Knowing tliat in a few days 
famine would compel tlie surrender of the fort, 
Beauregard, under instructions from L. P. Walker, 
the rebel Secretary of War, proposed to refrain from 
bombarding it, if he would fix a day when he would 
evacuate it. Bold and bad as he was, he hesitated to 
open a war which should drench the nation in blood. 
Anderson, looking over his scanty supply of jirovis- 
ions, replied that if no supplies reached him, or no 
orders to the contrary were received from his Gov- 
ernment by the fifteenth (his letter was dated April 
twelfth), he would then surrender the fort. Not 
liking the conditions attached to this promise, though 
it was difficult to see how the beleagured little garrison 
could get either orders or provisions, Beauregard, the 
same day, at half past three o'clock in the morning, 
sent woi'd that in one hour he would " open the fire 
of his batteries on Port Sumter." 



* CHAPTER III. 
April, 18(il. 



Punctual to the appointed moment, the roar of a 
mortar froin Sullivan's Island; quickly followed by 
the rushing shriek of a shell, gave notice to the 
world that the era of compromise and diplomacy was 
ended — that the Slaveholder's Confederacy had ap- 
pealed from sterile negotiations to the last argument 
of aristocracies as well as kings. Another gun from 
that island quickly repeated the warning, making a 
response from battery after battery, until Sumter ap- 
peared the focus of a circle of volcanic fire, and the 
broad glare from the blazing guns, and bursting 
shells traversing the air in every direction and cross- 
ing in a fiery net-work over the doomed fort, heralded 
in the day. Anderson and his little band sat quietly 
within their stronghold, listening unmoved to the 
wild hurricane without, till the sun had climbed 
the heavens. The ponderous balls of the enemy were 
knocking loudly for admittance without, but not a 
shot had been fired in return. At half-past six, the 
mere handful within sat quietly down to their break- 
fast, and finished their meal as leisurely as though 
preparing for a parade. They were then divided into 
three reliefs — the first under command of Capt. 
Doubleday — and the men ordered to their places. 
Soon the order to fire was given, and the ominous si- 
lence that had so long reigned round that dark struc- 
ture was broken, and a sheet of flame ran along its 
sides. Gun now answered gun in quick succession, 



and for the next four hours the heavy, deafening ex- 
plosions were like a continuous clap of thunder. 
Forty-seven mortars and large cannon directed their 
fire against the fort, and shot and shell beat upon it, 
and burst within and over it incessantly. The heavy 
explo.sions called out the inhabitants of Charleston in 
crowds, and the housetops and shores were lined with 
excited spectators, gazing earnestly over tlie water, 
where the tossing clouds of smoke obscured the sky. 
Every portion of the fortress was searched by the ene- 
my's fire, and loosened bricks and mortar were soon 
flying in every direction. It was impossible to serve the 
guns en barbette, and they were knocked to pieces one 
after another by the shot and shells that swept the 
crest of the ramparts. These were the only guns that 
could throw shells, and hence Anderson was able to 
reply to the enemy only with solid shot. These, in 
most cases, thundered harmlessly on the solid works 
of the enemy, or glanced from their iron sides. The 
barracks again and again caught fire, but each time 
were extinguished, chiefly through the energy and 
daring of Mr. Hart, a New York volunteer. The cart- 
ridges were soon exhausted, when the men made them 
of their shirt-sleeves. Noon came, and the soldiers 
were served with their meagre dinner at the guns, 
snatching a hasty bite of the last of their hard biscuit 
and salt pork, and then calmly went to their work 
again. During this tremendous cannonading. Major 



THE RKHEMJON. 



17 



Anderson and liis oflicers coolly watolu'd iliroUf;li 
their f^lasses the etl'ect of the shot, and ever and anon 
turned their eyes anxiously towards the mouth of the 
harbor, where our succoring fleet lay, not daring to 
run the gaunllol of batteries that stretched between 
tlieni and the fort. Thus the toilsome day wore away, 
and as darkness enveloped the scene, Anderson, being 
no longer able to observe the effect of his shots, 
ordered the port-holes to be closed, when the 
tiring ceased and the men lay down to rest. The 
enemy, however, did not remit his attack, and 
all uight long his ponderous shot kept smiting 
the solid walls of the fort, and his shells, whose course 
could be seen by their long trains of light, drojjped 
incessantly amund aud within the silent structure. 
Early on Saturday morning, the little garrison was 
again at work, and gun answered gun in quick re- 
sponse. The barracks, for the fourth time, took fire, 
but the attempts to put it out, as before, were soon 
found to be fruitless, for the hot shot of the enemy, 
dropping incessantly among the combustible materials, 
kept the Uames alive, and in a short time the raging 
conflagration within became more terrible than the 
hurricane of shot without. The whole garrison was 
called from the guns to save the magazine, and bar- 
rels of powder were rolled through the smoke and 
embers to a place of safety. Ninety-six barrels had 
been thus removed, when the heat became too great 
to continue the work, and it was abandoned, and the 
magazine locked to await its destiny. The fire raged 
uncontrolled, and the smoke, driven downward by the 
wind, filled all the interior of the fort, so that the 
men could no longer see each other. Choked by the 
stifling air, they flung themselves on the ground, and 
throwing wet handkerchiefs and cloths over their 
mouths aud eyes, lay and gasped for breath. The 
last biscuit had been eaten the day before — the walls 
were crumbling around them — the main gate had 
been burned down, leaving an open passage to an ad- 
vancing force, and it was evident to all that the con- 
test was a hopeless one. Still, Anderson stood un- 
moved amid the wreck, and refused to strike his 
colors. The cartridges were nearly exhausted — the 
magazine could not be reached for more powder, — 
yet, now and then, a shot was fired to let the fleet 
outside, and the enemy, know they had not surren- 
dered. To add to the horrors of their i)osition, the 
shells aud amunition in the upper service magazine 
caught fire and exploded with a frightful crash, send- 
ing splintered beams and blazing fragments in every 
direction, and adding ten-fold to the terror of the 



coiilhigration that was raging in every ])art of the 
inclosure. This went on hour after hour, the men 
being compelled to work with wet cloths over their 
mouths. At length the fire approached the men's 
quarters, where the barrels of powder that had been 
taken from the magazine lay exposed. The soldiers 
rushed through the flames with wet blankets, and 
covered them over; but the heat soon became so in- 
tense that it was feared they would take fire and 
blow up the fort, and they were rolled through 
the embrasures into the sea, till all but three 
were gone, which were piled over tliickly with 
wet blankets. Only three cartridges were now 
left, and these were in the guns. At this crisis 
the flag-staff was shot away. The flag was brought 
in, after having been shot down, by Lieutenant Hall, 
but was afterwards (by order of Major Anderson) 
planted on the ramparts by Lieutenants Snyder and 
Hart, who nailed it to the flag-staff, where it con- 
tinued to wave defiantly. A few minutes after this 
■ occurred, a man was seen at an embrasure with a 
white flag tied to his sword. It was Wigfall, late 
Senator from Texas, who had come from Port Moul- 
trie, and now desired admittance. Entering through 
into the casement, he exclaimed in an excited man- 
ner that he came from General Beauregard, that he 
saw the flag of the fort was down, adding: "Let us 
stop this firing." "No, sir," replied Lieutenant Da- 
vis, "the flag is not down; step out this way and you 
will see it waving from the ramparts." General Wig- 
fall then asked that some one should hold his white 
flag outside the walls. "No, sir," replied the gallant 
Lieutenant, "we don't raise a white flag; if you want 
your batteries to stop, you must stop them yourself." 
Wigfall then held the flag out of the embrasure. As 
soon as he did so, Lieutenant ]1;ivis ordered a cor- 
poral to relieve him, as it was not the act of the fort, 
but of Wigfall. But the cannon-balls continuing to 
strike around the corporal, he exclaimed with an 
oath: "I won't hold that flag; they don't respect it." 
Wigfall replied: "They fired at me three or four 
times, and I should think you ought to stand it 
once." He then placed the flag outside of the em- 
brasure and sought Major Anderson. Wigfall intro- 
duced himself by saying, "I am General Wigfall, and 
come from General Beauregard, who wishes to stop 
this." Anderson, whose usually quiet blood had, in 
the terrific bomb;irdmeut of these two days, got fairly 
roused, rose on his toes, and, as he came down with a 
sudden jar on his heels, replied, " Well, sir!" "Major 
Anderson," said the former, " vou have defended vour 



18 



THE KEBELLIOlSr. 



flag nobly, sir — you have done all that is possible for 
men to do, and General Beauregard wishes to stop the 
fight. On what terms will you evacuate this fort ?'" 

"General Beauregard is already acquainted with 
my only terms," was the calm reply. 

"Do I understand," replied Wigfall, "that you 
will evacuate upon the terms proposed the other 
day?" 

"Yes, sir," said the Major, "and on those con- 
ditions only." 

"Very well," Wigfall replied, and retired. 

A short time after, a deputation of four officers 
arrived, sent by General Beauregard, and asked for 
an interview with Major Anderson, when it turned 
out that Wigfall had acted entirely on his own 
responsibility, and without even the knowledge of 
Beauregard. Seeing the state of things. Major An- 
derson remarked that it put him in a peculiar posi- 
tion, and the flag must be hoisted again. After some 
conversation, however, they requested him to put in 
writing what Wigfall had said to him, and they would 
lay it before General Beauregard. He did so, but be- 
fore the statement beached the rebel General, he had 
sent the Adjutant-General, and members of his staff, 
to propose the same terms on which Major Anderson 
had consented to go out, with the exception of being 
allowed to salute his flag. They asked him if he 
would not dispense with the salute. He replied 
<« jfo," — he would, however, leave the question open 
for conference. They returned with the reply, and 
shortly after an officer came over, saying that the 
terms first proposed were accepted. 

What motive had prompted General Wigfall to vol- 
unteer his services, and take upon himself the respon- 
sibility of negotiating for Beauregard, is not known. 
It is but charitable, however, to suppose that the 
feelings of a man had been aroused in him at sight 
of that burning, fort, within which a mere handful of 
men had for thirty-four hours borne the concentrated 
fire of four powerful batteries, and which, though 
unable to return only an occasional shot, and wrai)ped 
in a fierce conflagration, still refused to yield. It was 
a sight to move the pity of any thing human. 

Thus fell Fort Sumter ; and the opening act of the 
most fearful tragedy the world has ever seen, had 
closed. The people of Charleston seemed utterly 
oblivious of the true character and swift results of 
this first act of violence, and were wild with enthusi- 
asm and joy. Already, in the ardent imagination of 
her chivalry, the Confederacy had established its in- 
dependence beyond dispute, and was about to con- 



quer and lay waste the degenerate, cowardly North- 
Beauregard was a hero — indeed, all were heroes. They 
had succeeded in firing the train, and now danced in 
the flickering light it emitted, unconscious that the 
fitful blaze was on its way to a magazine, the explo- 
sion of which would shake the continent. The 
Koman Catholic bisliop ordered a Te Deuvi to be 
chanted in honor of the victory, and the Episcopal 
bishop, though blind and feeble, declared that the re- 
sistance was obedience to God. 

On Monday morning preparations for the evacua- 
tion commenced. But first, the only man killed dur- 
ing the terrible bombardment, a private by the name 
of Daniel Hough, who lost his life by the bursting of 
a cannon, was buried with military honors. When 
this was done, and the baggage all on board the 
transport, a portion of the little band who stood 
under arms within the battered fort, were tolled off as 
gunners, to fire the one hundred guns as a salute to 
the flag. At the fiftieth discharge a permature ex- 
plosion killed one man, and wounded three more — 
one, seriously. When the last gun was fired, the 
handful of heroes marched out, the band playing 
"Yankee Dodle" and "Hail to the Chief." Vast 
crowds were collected in the vicinity to witness this 
last ceremony, little dreaming what it foreboded. 
That night the troops remained on board the Isabel, 
and the next morning were transferred to the Baltic, 
and started for New York. 

Though South Carolina had long before declared 
herself out of the Union, both postal and telegraphic 
communication was kept up with Charleston, and 
never did the electric wires of the country quiver with 
news so pregnant with the fate of a great nation, as 
those which kept registering the progress of the bom- 
bardment. And when at last the news came that the 
Stars and Stripes had been lowered to the insolent, 
rebellious State, the nation was struck dumb with 
indignation and amazement. The first eSect was 
stunning, paralyzing, and the North seemed to hold 
its breath in suspense. But it was the slow settling 
back of the billow, as it gathers.to break in thunder 
on the shore. The North had hitherto been divided. 
The Democrats and those opposed to the Republican 
party had sympathized with the South in their in- 
dignation at the triumph of a faction whose battle- 
cry had been hostility to an institution that was in-\ 
woven into the very structure of its society. Every- 
where threats had been heard that if the Republican 
party endeavored by an unconstitutional act to carry 
out its hostility to slavery, there would be an upris 



Till-; i;i:i{i:i,i,i()\. 



Ill 



ing at the North. So bitter was this feeling, that 
many rejoiced at the serious difTiculties and embar- 
rassments their sectional vit'tory had involved them 
in. Indeed, it was clear to the careful observer, that 
if the South managed discreetly, the party would have 
more trouble at the North than at the South. What 
course would this powerful opposition take now, was 
a question fraught with life and death to the admin- 
istration. But there was no time given for arguments 
and appeals and attempts to conciliate. Political 
animosities vanished, party lines disappeared, and 
all opposition went down like barriers of mist before 
the rising patriotism of the people. Though the 
Democrats believed the spirit of the compact origin- 
ally made between the North and South, had been 
broken by the formation and success of the Republi- 
can party, and that its very existence was contrary 
to the spirit of the Constitution, and a violation of 
good faith — though they felt it meditated a great 
wrong on the weaker portion of the Republic, they 
suddenly forgot it all. The flag, our boast and pride, 
the emblem of our nationality and record of our 
glory, had been assailed by traitorous hands and 
trailed in the dust at their bidding. All minor differ- 
ences disappeared before this gigantic wrong, and 
from the Atlantic to the broad praries of the West 
there went up one loud cry for vengeance. The 
President, who, with his administration, had seemed 
to be laboring under a strange credulity, seeing State 
after State throw ofl" its allegiance, and forts and 
arsenals one after another seized by the rebels with 
a calm composure, as though all those high-handed 
acts were mere parts of a stage play, and meant noth- 
ing more than the talk about secession and a bloody 
revolt that had characterized the political campaign 
of the autumn previous, was at last aroused liy the 
thunder of cannon at Fort Sumter. The President at 
length saw that this was not merely an " artiiicial ex- 
citement," and the "sixty days" which the Secretary 
of State prophesied were to bring a more " cheerful 
state of things," had, instead, brought " bloody war." 
The very next day after Fort Sumter hud surren- 
dered, the President issued a proclamation, calling for 
seventy-five thousand volunteers for three months, 
to protect the capital and secure the proiierty of the 
Government seized by the rebels, and commiinding 
all those in arms to return to their homes in twenty 
days. It also summoned Congress to meet on the 
4th of July. It was calm in its tone, and reserved- 
in the claims put forth. It contained no appeal to 
the patriotism of the peoi)le, being almost exclusively 



confined to a statement of the rights of the Ocneral 
Government over its own property, which it would 
be the duty of the army to take from the rebels after 
the safety of the capital wiis secured. 

It was fortunate that the aroused people of the 
North needed no stimulus, and their instincts no in- 
structions respecting the true issue that had been 
forced upon them. This proclamation, which could 
not have been more carefully worded, or have said 
less, was received throughout the Soutli as a declara- 
tion of war. At the North, although it was a con- 
fession that civil war had commenced, it was received 
with one loud shout of approval, that showed that 
the Union was not to be destroyed without a struggle 
that should drench the land in blood. Enthusiastic 
meetings were held in every part of the North. 
Nearly all of the free States this side of the Uocky 
Mountains had Republican Governors and Legisla- 
tures, who vied with each others in proffers of men, 
money, munitions, and everything that could be 
needed to vindicate the authority and maintain the 
integrity of the Fnion. The only Governor not 
elected as a Rei)ublican was William Sprague, of 
Rhode Island — an independent Conservative — who 
not merely raised promptly the quota required of him, 
but volunteered to lead it to Wasliington, or wherever 
its services might be required. No State was more 
prompt and thorough in her response, and none sent 
her troops into the field more completely armed and 
serviceably equipjjed, than did Rhode Lsland. Among 
the privates in her first regiment was one worth a 
million dollars, who destroyed the passage tipket he 
had bought for a voyage to Europe, on a tour of ob- 
servation and i)leasure, to shoulder his musket in de- 
fense of his country and her laws. At Philadelphia, 
New York, Boston, Cincinnati, Pittsburg, and almost 
every large place, money was raised for the volunteers 
and their families. Legislatures made large appro- 
priations, and :il)uudant means seemed at the disposal 
of the General Government to put a speedy end to 
the rebellion. 

The call on tlie slave States still in the Union, for 
their jiroportion of the army of seventy-five thousand 
men, was received in a very different spirit. (Gover- 
nor Magoffin, of Kentucky, replied: "Kentucky will 
furnish no troops for the wicked jjurpose of subduing 
her sister Southern States." Governor Letcher, of 
Virginia: "The militia will not be furnished to the 
powers of Washington for any such use or purpose as 
thev have in view." (Jovcruor Kills, of North Caro- 
lina, in a more gniuded tone, telegraphed to the 



20 



THE RKBELTJON. 



President that he could not respond to the call, as 
he had doubts of his authority under the Constitu- 
tion to make it. Similar responses came from Ten- 
nessee, Arkansas, and other States. Maryland and 
Delaware were the only exceptions to a peremptory 
refusal. Governor Hicks, of the former State, 
would raise troops only for the defense of Washing- 
ton, and not for any other purpose. Little Dela- 
ware took her place without hesitation beside tlie 
loyal States. Throughout the North the love of the 
old flag suddenly became a passion, and the stars 
and stripes draped ev6ry street and waved from every 
church spire. Patriotic songs were iu every mouth, 
and the regiments gathering to their places of rendez- 
vous, or streaming through the cities towards Wash- 
ington, were greeted by shouting crowds ; and the 
general feeling was like that which accompanies a 
triumphal march. Civil war was an evil we had 
never contemplated — besides, we had been taught so 
long to regard it as a political bugbear, a mere party 
menace, that we looked upon it with little or no 
alarm. More than this, the North had been told so 
long by unscrupulous politicians that the South dare 
not fight — that at the first call to arms the slaves 
would rush into insurrection, — that they really be- 
liev'ed at the first show of determination, the South 
would decline the contest. The people at the South 
had been beguijed in the same manner by their 
leaders — they had been assured, over and over again, 
that the money-loving North would never go to war 
with the source of their wealth — a race of shop- 
keepers would never fight for a sentiment, and if they 
attempted it, would be crushed at the first onset by 
the chivalrous, warlike South. Thus the two sections 
were hurried, through ignorance and blind presump- 
tion, towards all the untold horrors of civil war. It 
was plain to every one who had studied the history of 
nations carefully, that this blind confidence on both 
sides was doomed to a terrible disappointment. 

The Proclamation of the President was met on the 
part of Mr. Davis, of the Southern Confederacy, by 
one calling on the Southern States for volunteers, and 
also for persons to take out letters of marque as pri- 
vateers, to prey on the commerce of the North. The 
call for volunteers was responded to with the same 
alacrity as that of President Lincoln had been, and 
the same enthusiasm was exhibited. Like the North, 
they thought there might be some conquering, but 
there would be little fighting. With many, however, 
especially the more religious class, a different feeling 
prevailed. They had been told, and they believed, 



that the seventy-five thousand men summoned to the 
field by President Lincoln, were not designed for 
the defense of Washington, but to commence the 
work of emancipation by direct invasion of their soil, 
and hence rushed to arms under the full belief that 
they were called upon to defend their homes, and fire- 
sides, and all they held dear. 

Immediately on the issue of the President's proc- 
lamation, Virginia, which had long been wavering, 
through her convention elected to determine the 
mattier, declared herself out of the Union. It is 
more than probable that this was done by direct fraud 
— at least intimidation was used. Her best men, 
among them John Minor Botts, fought against it to 
the last. It is difficult to say what motives prompted 
the leaders in this State to such a suicidal course. 
The western part was known to be loyal, and certainly 
a large minority of the eastern. Besides, iu the issue 
of war, whichever side should succeed, she was cer- 
tain to constitute the chief battle ground, and must 
be ruined in the contest. It is j)ossible that, proud 
from her traditions, and over-estimating her imjjort- 
ance in the Union, she really believed that by casting 
her lot in with the Southern Confederacy, she secured 
the co-operation of every Southern State, and thus 
made the contest so even that the North would not 
attemj)t coercion ; while the magnitude of the I'ebel- 
lion would at once secure the recognition of foreign 
powers. Thus civil war would be prevented alto- 
gether. 

The Government at this crisis was suirounded with 
difficulties calculated to bewilder the strongest minds. 
Treason was on every side, and it knew not where to 
strike, nor had it the means to plant the blows it 
knew should be given. Everything had been thrown 
into chaos, and, in the whirlpool of conflicting ele- 
ments, neither the President nor the Cabinet seemed 
to know what to do. It was a state of things never 
anticipated, and hence wholly unprovided for. Mr. 
Lincoln felt himself wholly at sea, while unfortunately 
the two Cabinet officers on whom the nation must 
chiefly rely, had not been selected for their fitness to 
meet such a crisis. Mr. Cameron, the Secretary of 
War, soon proved this to the satisfaction of the coun- 
try and the President. The Secretary of the Navy, 
though a man of probity and true patriotism, could 
not be expected, from his limited experience in naval 
matters, to give, at once, this arm of the Government 
its full efficiency. At all events, he w^as much blamed 
for a heavy disaster following the fall of Fort Sumter, 
The navy yard at Norfolk was the largest and the 



TirK ItKHKIJilON. 



31 



most important one in the country. To the rebels it 
was of vital importance, lor notwithstanding the 
thefts of Floyil, while Secretary of War, the South 
was deficient in heavy cannon, and hero were gatliercd 
a vast number, some of tliem of the largest caliber. 
Virginia had seceded, and her (iovernor had sum- 
moned the people to anus, and it was {)lain to the 
sim])lest mind that tlie navy yard located on her soil 
would be the first object she would attempt to grasp, 
and yet sufficient precaution was not taken to prevent 
the catastrophe. The Secretary of the Navy seemed 
to think its surrender a foregone conclusion, and in- 
tent only on saving the vessels there, ordered Com- 
modore McCauley to remove them to a place of 
safety. 

When he found it was not done, he dis])atched 
Commodore Paulding to take his place. When the 
latter arrived, he found that they were being destroyed, 
the Merrimnc and other ships having already been 
scuttled. Seeing this would not prevent their falling 
into the hands of the enemy, he applied the torch to 
them and what other public property he could, and 
abandoned the place. The Cumberland, towed down 
by the tug YnnLec, escaped, only eventually to meet 
a worse fate than burning, from her former consort 
the Merrimac. The country, enraged, asked why the 
ships did not shell the batteries the enemy were 
erecting in the neighborhood, and the place itself, and 
leave them aheap of smoking ruins, and destroy the 
guns. Instead of this, we succeeded in scuttling and 
firing the Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Columbus, 
each seventy four guns ; the Memmac and Columbia, 
forty four ; the i?ari<rtu, forty-five; the sloops-of-war 
Gennantmvn and Plymouth, each twenty two guns; 
the brig Dolphin, a powder boat, and the frigate 
United States (in ordinary). Of these, the 3/cmmac 



was to be heard from again. The value of the 
pro])erty was estimated at fifty millions of dollars. 
This, however, was a small matter oom[)ared to the 
advantage we gave the enemy by supplying him with 
hundreds of cannon. 

Two days before. Lieutenant Jones, commanding 
the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, hearing that twenty 
five hundred \'irgiiiians were advancing to seize it, 
set it on fire, destroying it with all its arms and mu- 
nitions of war. Why these had not been removed, 
when it was only some tiiirty miles to a place of per- 
fect safety, the public was not informed. But for the 
gallant conduct of Lieutenant Jones, the arms so 
much needed by the rebels would have fallen into 
their hands. 

These apparently unnecessary disasters jiroduced 
an outburst of indignation from those who had been 
the warmest friends of the administration, and for a 
time shook seriously the confidence of the people. It 
is true, Gosport Navy Yard was surrendered five days 
after the proclamation of the President, on the ]">th 
of April, and Harper's Ferry on the 18th. Events 
were marching with fearful rapidity ; the hands of the 
Government were tied for the want of means to carry 
out its plans, and it knew not where to look for loyal 
men. But with six weeks (the time since inaugura- 
tion of the President) in which to gather its ener- 
gies, it might have done something. The fault was, 
that those six weeks had been wasted in listening to 
the claims of politicians greedy for places. 

With the lightning rending the clouds that were 
rolling up the .angry heavens, and the thunder brejik- 
ing on every side, the administ-ration calndy devoted 
itself to the filling of offices. All this time the reb- 
els were at work. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Apkil, 1861. 



While indecision was thus characterizing the Gov- 
ernment at Washington, patriotism and a stern deter- 
mination to settle the quarrel by the bayonet were 
rousing the jicople of the North, and it was soon evi- 
dent that a i)ower was gathering that the Govern- 
ment must control and let loose on the rebellion, or 
it would go down before it. To a thoughtful man, 
this indecision of the administration on the one hand, 
and this tremendous energy and purpose of the 



people on the other, were calculated to awaken seri- 
ous alarm. 

The i)eople had forgotten politics, and were fully 
aroused to the danger of the country. The regi- 
ments kei)t pouring in, but, relying on the Govern- 
ment to provide for their wants, were ill supplied with 
the things necessary to their comfort and efficiency. 
Seeing this state of things, a Union Defense Commit- 
tee was formed in New York to supply the troopi 



22 



THE REBELIJON. 



with necessary means. But politicians, greedy of 
gain, soon assumed the control of its affairs in order 
to fill their own pockets. General Wool, who came 
to New York to direct matters, attempted to put a 
stop to the wasteful extravagance, but through the 
efforts of these same politicians, who had an influ- 
ence with the Government at Washington, was sent 
home to Troy in disgrace. Contractors all over the 
country took advantage of the general enthusiasm to 
rob the public treasury, and, unmolested by the Secre- 
tary of War, experienced no difficulty in amassing 
wealth out of the public necessities. The people had 
no eyes for these gigantic swindling operations — they 
saw only their country's flag in danger, and were 
pressing to its defense. From east to west arose the 
murmur of gathering hosts. Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island, Qhio, Illinois, and Indiana, and the far 
West, moved simultaneously. The Massachusetts 
Sixth led the van, and four days after the President's 
proclamation was issued were entering Baltimore. 
Threats had been uttered that Northern troops should 
not be allowed to pass through the city to the Capi- 
tal, which was now threatened on every side. Patrols 
were kept up night and day over the long bridge — 
cannon commanding its passage — the Government, 
under the veteran and patriot Scott, was securing 
itself as best it could with its limited means, anxious- 
ly looking northward for the troops hastening to 
its defense. The Massachusetts Sixth, occui^ying 
eleven cars, reached Baltimore on the 19th of 
April, and proceeded quietly though the streets, 
drawn by horses, to the depot on the farther side. As 
they advanced, the crowd, which had been collected, 
steadily increased, so that the horses could hardly 
effect a passage through it. Soon, shouts and yells, 
mingled with threats, arose on every side, followed by 
stones, brick-bats, and other missiles, which rained in 
a perfect shower on the cars, smashing the windows 
and wounding the soldiers within. The latter, how- 
ever, made no resistance, but kept quietly on their 
way, and nine of the cars reached the depot in safety 
and started for Washington. The two remaining cars, 
carrying about one hundred, where thus cut off from 
the main body and hemmed in by some eight thou- 
sand infuriated men. At this moment news came that 
the Pennsylvania volunteers had arrived, and were 
about to follow the Massachusetts regiment. This 
increased the excitement, and the Massachusetts 
troops, finding the cars could not go on, came out, and 
forming in a solid square, with fixed bayonets, and at 
the double quick, l)egan to advance. The Mayor of 



Baltimore, who had in vain endeavored to keep the 
peace, and a strong detachment of police, marched at 
the head of the troops, opening a way before them 
through the vast and angry crowd. Missiles poured 
upon them from every quarter, and, in some cases, 
heavy pieces of iron were cast out of second and third- 
story windows upon their heads. One man was 
crushed down by one of these iron billets, The front 
of the column received little injury, but the rioters 
closed in upon and attempted to cut off a portion of 
the rear, which, being hardly pressed, was at length 
ordered to fire, and the order was obeyed. Several 
volleys were fired by a small portion of the regiment, 
whereby eleven of the mob were killed and four 
severely wounded- Of the soldiers, three were slain 
and eight seriously injured. Most of the remaining 
volunteers reached the Washington depot and crowded 
into the cars, which were dispatched as soon as pos- 
sible for Washington. Fifteen of the soldiers who 
went on with their comrades were so injured by the 
missiles that, on reaching the capital, they were sent, 
to the hospital. The train was repeatedly fired at 
from the hills and woods along the route, but at too 
great distance to do harm. At the Jackson bridge, it 
was stopped by the removal of several rails, which 
were promptly relaid, under the protection of the 
troops. 

The Pennsylvanians were left behind, and, being 
entirely unarmed. Gen. Small decided that they 
should not proceed. He attempted to have the cars 
in which they remained drawn back out of the city, 
but without immediate success. Soon a portion of 
the mob, desisting from the pursuit of the Massa- 
chusetts men, turned upon these, and commenced a 
violent stoning of the cars, whereby the windows 
were broken and several men severely injured. The 
Pennsylvanians sprang from the cars and engaged in 
a hand-to-haud fight with their assailants, being 
aided to some extent by Baltimore Unionists. An 
irregular fight was here kept up for nearly two hours, 
during which ten or twelve soldiers were badly hurt, 
and one or two killed. Finally, Police Marshall Kane 
appeared on the ground, and, being very influential 
with the secessionist, soon stopped the fight; when 
the Pennsylvanians, returning to the cars, were 
started on the back track to Philadelphia, where they 
arrived late that night. 

The news of this murderous outrage filled the 
North with boundless rage, and the universal cry was 
to lay the city in ashes, if necessary to secure a safe 
transit for our troops. The mob immediately took 



THK Tn<;i?KI,LION. 



33 



possession of Ilaltiiiiore, aiul the rrt'siilciit was iioli- 
(ied by the Mayor and Governor that no more troops 
would lie allowed to pass throiipli the city. But the 
stop]iiige of the direct route to the Capital was not to 
be entertained for a moment. If troops could reacli 
the seat of government in no other way, they must do 
it over heajjs of dead, and smouldering ruins. The 
news reached New York just before the Seventh 
regiment, the favorite regiment of the city, composed 
of some of the most intelligent and wealthy young 
men of the metropolis, and perfect in its appoint- 
ments and drill, set out. This superb body of men 
heard it, and took forty-eight rounds of cartridges to 
clear a passage for themselves. Others regiments 
followed, and a bloody tight was expected in Balti- 
more. 

Massachusetts, in six days, responded to the Presi- 
dent's proclamation with live full regiments of in- 
fantry, a battalion of rifles and a fine corps of flying 
artillery. The South was ecjually alert in answering 
the call of Mr. Davis for volunteers, and even Ala- 
bama, in the same short space of time, had five thou- 
8!ind ready to march for the seat of war. The same 
enthusiasm attended the passage of troops from l)otli 
sections of the country. Crowds were gathered to wit- 
ness their departure and herald their progress through 
the various towns. Flags wore presented, patriotic 
speeches delivered, and shouts and words of greeting 
and waving of handkerchiefs, and flaunting of stream- 
ers, made their march one great ovation. To a 
spectator these hostile forces appeared as if they were 
gathering to some grand and peaceful review, instead 
of being citizens of the same republic hastening to 
imbue their hands in each other's blood. 

In the meantime, all eyes at the North were turned 
toward Baltimore, in expectation of a bloody battle 
in its streets. A delegation from the young men's 
•' Christian Association '" of the city waited on the 
President, and Gov. Hicks presented a communica- 
tion asking that the troops might not i)ass through 
Maryland, and for a cessation of hostilities till a 
reference of the national dispute could be made to 
Lord Lyons, the British minister to the United 
States, at Washington. The President, through the 
Secretary of State, replied that our troubles could 
not be referred to a foreign arbitrament, and that the 
Commander-in-Chief had decided that the troops 
must come through to Washington — there was no 
alternative. 

The dreaded collision was prevented by the troops 
stopping at Havre de Grace, and taking steamers for 



.\nnapolis. Gen. B. F. Butler had taken his regi- 
ment by this route, and there the New York Seventh 
joined it and were placed under the command of that 
ollicer. Here wore the Naval Academy and the noble 
old frigate Comlitution ; the latter without a crew, 
and in danger of falling at any moment into the 
hands of the enemy. This he at once secured. 

On the morning of the 34lh — several other regi- 
ments having meantime arrived — General Butler put 
his column in motion, the Massachusetts Eighth in 
advance, closely followed by the New York Seventh. 
They kept the line of the railroad, repairing it as 
they advanced. A dismantled engine, which they 
found on the way, was refitted and put to use. The 
day i)roved intensely hot. Many of the men had had 
little or nothing to eat for a day or two, and had 
scarcely slept since they left Philadelphia. Some fell 
asleep as they marched; others fell out of the ranks, 
utterly exhausted; one was sunstruck, and had to be 
sent back, permanently disabled. Nothing to eat 
could be bought; and, as they did not choose to take 
without buying, they hungrily marched, building 
bridges and laying rails by turns, throughout the day 
and the following night. Arrived at the Annapolis 
Junction, the soldiers were met by cars from Wash- 
ington, in which they proceeded on the 25th, the New 
Y'ork Seventh in advance, to that city, and were 
hailed with rapture by it royal denizens, who com- 
posed, perhaps, one-half of its entire population. A 
feeble effort was made by Governor Hicks to prevent 
troops from crossing the State by this route, but a 
passage had been cleared, and it was ix'solved that 
nothing should close it. The route through Balti- 
more being fully reopened, and communication 
restored between the free States and Washington, the 
safety of the Capital was secured; regiment after 
regiment pouring into it by almost every train, until, 
by the end of May, not less than fifty thousand men 
—raw and undisciplined, indeed, but mainly of the 
best material for soldiers — held the line of the 
Potomac, or guarded the approaches to the Capital. 
And still, from every side, the people of the loyal 
States were urging more regiments upon the Govern- 
ment, and begging permission to swell the ranks of 
the Union armies, so as to match any conceivable 
strength of the rebels. 

' Now commenced defections in the army and 
navy, and it was impossible to tell whom to 
trust. Since the war with Mexico, resignations 
of officers of the army belonging to the North, 
in order to accept more lucrative civil positions, had 



2i 



THE REBELLION. 



been numeroils, while those from the South had re- 
tained their places. Colonel Robert E. Lee^ con- 
nected with the family of Washington, and a great 
favorite of Scott's, and who stood high in the public 
estimation, hesitated long before he cast his lot in 
with the rebels. As he sat on his piazza at Arlington 
House, and gazed off on the Capital, he shed bitter 
tears while he revolved the painful question in his 
mind, whether he should stand by the Union or go 
with his native State ; but finally felt it his duty to 
cast his fortunes in with the latter. In this crisis of 
our affairs, we first felt the full evils of the States' 
Rights doctrine, so long and so ably advocated by Cal- 
houn. We saw, too, one of tlie inherent weaknesses 
of our form of government. There ever will be more 
or less of a conflict between State sovereignty and the 
Confederate government. A man who holds a double 
allegiance — one to his State and another to the 
United States — will not always fix the exact line 
where fealty to one ends, and loyalty to the other be- 
gins to be paramount. To strike at one's own mother, 
and join those who are to invade his native soil, and 
help slay his own kindred and neighbors, requires a 
higher patriotism and loftier sense of duty than be- 
longs to most men. Hence, those at the South who 
stood the test of this terrible ordeal, and remained 
faithful to the National flag throughout, deserve 
greater honor than the most successful warrior of the 
North The spoiling of our goods, the entreaties and 
taunts of kindred and friends, imprisonment, and 
even death, are easier to be borne than to come as an 
enemy into the home of our childhood. 

While matters were thus assuming such a warlike 
aspect around Washington, the entire North became 
a great camp, and the sound of arms, and the 
strains of military bands, drowned the hum of in- 
dustry, and occupied the thoughts of young and 
old. The great Northwest was stirred like a hive, 
and her hardy sous gathered in uncounted thou- 
sands to the defense of the National flag. A 
similar military frenzy swept the South, and the 
two sections that had so long been members of the 
same government, now seemed impelled by a burning 
desire to close in mortal conflict. Hitherto, New 
York city, the stronghold of democracy and the 
emporium of the country, had not spoken. Her 
trade with the South had been one of her chief 
sources of wealth. She had also millions at stake, in 
the shape of debts owed by merchants and planters 
there. She had never been accused of fanaticism, 
and no sickly sentmientality or mock philanthropy 



characterized those who controlled her world-wide 
commerce. The President had issued a proclama- 
tion on the 19th of the month, blockading all the 
Southern ports, and denouncing as pirates the 
privateers commissioned by Jefferson Davis. The 
commerce of New York must stop, her Southern 
debts remain unpaid, and her wharves and store- 
houses stand idle, in order that a political faction 
might carry out its mad and unconstitutional schemes, 
was the language of the South. Would she submit 
to such a state of things ? was a question every- 
where asked, and the universal response was, " No!" 
The truth of this was soon to be tested, for a 
Union meeting was called to be held in Union Square 
on the 20th of April. This meeting was one of the 
largest ever assembled on this continent. Leading 
men from every part of the country. Democrats, 
Republicans and Whigs, joined hearts and voices, and 
from the uncounted tho^isands that were gatheied 
but one cry went up, "Down with the rebellion!" 
New York had at last spoken, and with bankruptcy 
staring her in the face, declaimed she would stand or 
fall with the Government. The news of this meeting 
was received with astonishment at the South. At 
New Orleans, such a state of public excitement was 
created that the police had to be called out to keep 
down the mob. The last hope of the rebels of sym- 
pathy from the North had failed them. The latter 
was a unit; no division weakened its force; and the 
dread issue, that the South had provoked, she now 
saw was to be settled by the comparative strength of 
the two sections. As a last resort, she turned to 
Europe, and despatched Messrs. Mann and Yancey to 
obtain a recognition of their government, and to get 
the blockade broken by promising free trade and an 
ample supply of cotton. The conspirators, instead of 
flinching at the dread prospect that opened before 
them, grew bolder. Though Missouri was divided, 
Kentucky neutral, and the western part of Virginia 
in open revolt against their assumed government, 
they boldly pressed the issue of combat. United 
States vessels were seized in southern ports — the Star 
of the West captured at Galveston and turned into a 
Southern national vessel — forts in Arkansas and Texas 
were seized, and arsenals and troops captured, and 
northern property confiscated as recklessly as though 
no day of reckoning was at hand. 

On the 3d of May the President issued an im- 
portant proclamation, portions of which caused' a 
good deal of discussion at the North. He called for 
forty-two thousand and thirty-four volunteers to 



TiiK iiKi;i:i.iJO\. 



siTve for three yoiirs or the war, and directed the 
increase of the reguhir army l>y the addition of eight 
regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, and one of 
artillery, and the enlistment of eighteen thousand 
seamen for not less than one nor more than three 
years in the navy. It was asked where the President 
obtained the power to increase the regular army with- 
out the san(;tion of Congress, which could not meet 
for two months to come. If he could increase it by 
ten thousand men, why not by a hundred thousand ; 
and if it could be called together two months before 
the meeting of Congress, why not for a year. It was 
undoubtedly an extraordinary stretch of executive 
authority, considering the well-known repugnance of 
the ])eople to a large standing army. But in the 
appalling evils that threatened the (iovernment, and 
in the anxiety to save the country at any and all 
hazards, the remonstrances uttered against the meas- 
ure by a portion of the Northern jjress were little 
heeded, or drowned in the one cry of self-jjreserva- 
tiou. 

The South openly proclaimed its determination to 
have Washington, and the two armies were rapidly 
coming face to face on the Potomac. At the West, 
tlie neutral position of Kentucky, which had I'esolved 
to side with neither party, but present herself as a 
barrier to prevent the collision of armies along the 
^fississijjpi, alarmed the Government, and troops 
were concentrated at Cairo, which in turn was looked 
upon by the traitorous Governor of that State, 
McGoffin, as a menace. In the meantime, Tennessee 
had entered into a league with the Southern Confed- 
eracy, which, in a few days (May 11), ended in her 
formally joining it. Affairs gradually assumed 
definite form. The only three forts of importance in 
the slave States which at present we could reach — 
McHcnry, at Baltimore; Monroe, in Virginia; and 
Pickens, at Pensacola — had l)ceu reinforced, and the 
numlicr of States vve must meet in open rebellion 
pretty nearly ascertoined. Maryland had reconsidered 
her action, and under the leadership of her loyal 
Governor, decided to remain in the Union. Missouri, 
it was evident, must be the scene of fierce internal 
strife. Her Governor, Jackson, was a traitor, and a 
great portion of the southern and western jiarts of the 
State for secession, while St. Louis stood loyal. 
Kentucky was still firm in her determination to 
stand neutral, though the Government well knew 
that every effort would be made through her Governor 



and the late Vice-President, Breckenridge, and other 
leaders, to take her over to the South. Against these 
were the noble Romans, Crittenden, Holt, and others, 
and the powerful inlluencc of the Lonimnlle Joiirnal, 
edited by Prentice. It w.-is not difficult, therefore, 
to measure somewhat the magnitude of the coming 
contest. Some reliance was placed on the portions 
of North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama, 
bordering on the Alleghany Mountains, for their in- 
habitants had shown from the outset an invincible 
repugnance to leaving the Union. Still, for the 
j)rescnt, until victory was thoroughly inaugurated, 
they would practically have to be left out of the 
calculation. 

Secretary Seward had previously instructed our 
foreign ministers, who had been buiiied abroad to see 
to our interests in foreign courts, that the United 
States would jiermit no interference whatever in our 
domestic troubles. It was e8])eeially important that 
France and England should not be induced by the 
re]>resentations of Soutliern commissioners to recog- 
nize the Southern Confederacy. Attention was then 
turned to clearing all departments at home of secret 
traitors. This latter was no easy task, for they 
swarmed in every public office at Washington, and 
were busily at work in every important city at the 
North. The telegraph was suddenly siezed to find 
evidence of treason. Numerous arrests followed, and 
some thus seized took advantage of the writ of habeas 
corpus to get released. The President felt it neces- 
sary, in self-protection, to suspend this writ, which 
caused a great deal of angry discussion at the North, 
for the power qf doing so had always been sup|iosed 
to lodge in Congress alone, and was never before 
assumed by the chief executive. The right to 
exercise it admitted the most serious doubts. It was 
one that the King of England dare not assert. Con- 
gress, under the Constitution, rules the Republic, and 
the President, with the exception of a few reserved 
rights, designed mostly to act as a check on uncon- 
stitutional legislation, is but its minister to carry out 
its will ; and no anticipation of evil can justify an 
unnecessary assumption of its appropriate powers. If 
the President had assembled Congress sooner he 
would have been spared numy executive acts that 
furnish, at least, bad precedents for the future. The 
people, however, 'submitted, for in the present 
imminent danger they refused to consider remote 
evils. 



•^6 



THE REBELLION. 



CHAPTEE V 



May— June, 1861. 



The great uncertainty into which civil war always 
throws a country, especially one with a democratic 
form of government, at this time created but little 
concern with a large portion of tlie people, for it was 
believed that a decisive battle would soon take place, 
which would settle the existing trouble and restore 
the country to a peaceful standing. At this time all 
eyes were turned toward the Potomac, for it was 
evident that the first serious collision must take place 
in front of Washington. From the Chesapeake to 
Edward's Ferry, twenty-five or thirty miles above the 
Capital, the Southern Confederacy was resolved to 
defend the "sacred soil of Virginia," as it was called, 
from invasion. In the meantime, the appointment of 
brigadier and major-generals became an every-day 
occurrence ; and, although it was not governed by 
political considerations alone, these controlled it far 
too mucii at first. 

It soon became apparent that Alexandria, a few 
miles from Washington, must be occupied, in order 
to secure the safety of tlie Capital. So, on the tw^enty- 
fourth of May, a little after noon. General Mansfield, 
Avith the Seventh New York regiment, left their 
camp at Washington, and proceeded to the Alexandria 
bridge. Another force, at the same time, passed the 
chain bridge, a few miles above Washington, and 
took possession of the London and Hampshire Rail- 
road, capturing two trains and several hundred pass- 
engers. Other regiments took part in this general 
movement into Virginia, making in all some thirteen 
thousand men. Several comjjanies, among them 
three of the Eire Zouaves of New York, proceeded in 
steamers direct to Alexandria. About five o'clock 
in the afternoon. Colonel Ellsworth, the Zouave com- 
mander, landed in good order, and marclied forward 
in double-quick, driving the rebels before him. One 
company was immediately detailed to destroy the 
railroad track leading to Richmond, while Colonel 
Ellsworth, with the remainder, proceeded to the tele- 
graph office to cut the wires. On his way through 
the street, he caught sight of a large secession flag 
flying from the top of the Marshall, House, kept by a 
person named Jackson. He immediately turned and 
entered the hall, and meeting a man, asked: " Who 
put that flag up?" The man answered: ''I don't 
know; I am a boarder here." The Colonel then, with 
a lieutenant, the chaplain, and four privates, pro- 



ceeded to the top of the house and cut down the flag. 
As they were coming down stairs, preceded by private 
Brownell, they met the man they had just before ac- 
costed, standing in the hall with a double-barreled 
gun in his hand. Instantly leveling it, he fired. 
Both barrels were discharged at once, lodging their 
contents in the body of Colonel Ellsworth. He was 
at the time rolling up the flag. Suddenly falling for- 
ward on his face, with the exclamation, "My God!" 
he instantly expired. Private Brownell, quickly 
leveling his musket, sent a bullet crashing through 
the skull of tlie murderer. In about ten minutes a 
company arrived, and making a litter of their mus- 
kets, carried their dead commander aboard the boat. 

The death of this gallant young officer, produced 
the profoundest sensation throughout the North. It 
was the first great siicrifice on the altar of freedom, 
and his remains were escorted with great honor, to his 
friends in the State of New York. 

Skirmishing between pickets, and collisions between 
small bodies of troops, in which the Union- 
ists were almost invariably successful, kept 
the public feeling at fever heat, and inspired 
the North with unbounded confidence in its 
power to crush out the rebellion in a very short time. 
The first serious afi'air occurred at Big Bethel, near 
Fortress Monroe. In the early part of June, a few 
regiments, under the command of General Pierce, 
were sent by General Butler to occupy Newport 
News. From thence they proceeded to Little Bethel, 
which they occupied, and then pushed on to Big 
Bethel. Here they were met by the enemy, en- 
trenched behind works, and after a short action 
driven back with a loss in killed and wounded of 
some forty men. The whole affair was badly man- 
aged — the regiments, through mistake, firing into 
each other — and had the enemy shown any energy, 
the whole command would have been cut up. Lieu- 
tenant Greble, of the regular service, and Major 
Winthtop, volunteer, an aid to General Butler, were 
among the killed. This disaster awoke a storm of 
indignation at the North. Defeat was a contingency 
never anticipated, and the most unsparing denun- 
ciations were visited on the heads of the supposed of- 
fenders. The newspapers now began to assume the 
control of military matters, and it was evident that 
the unreasonable demands of the public would, 



Till 



Kl'.KLMO.V. 



ero \<m<i, force tin- Govcrnmpiit into worse blunders. 

In the ineuutiiiic, Captain Lyon, of the rej;ular 
army, in command of the arsenal in St. Louis, began 
to develop those military (lualities whicli promised to 
make him one of the most prominent supporters of 
the tiovernment. In May, he refused to obey the 
order of the police commissioners of St. Tjouis, to re- 
move all the United States troops outside the 
grounds. Governor Jackson, with General Price, 
took the field against him, and established a camp at 
Jackson, nearthe city. Lyon, by a sudden movement, 
succeeded in surrounding it, and taking the whole 
force, si.x hundred and thirty-nine, prisoners. A 
great mob followed the troops back to the camp, sa- 
luting them with yells and volleys of stone. One 
company, receiving orders to fire, poured a volley 
into the crowd, killing twenty and wounding many 
more, which created the most intense excitement. 
Promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, Lyon 
dealt his blows right and left, with a vigor that 
showed he was determined to make short work 
with the rebels. Governor Jackson having taken 
position at Jefi'erson City, he moved against him 
there. The latter fled, burning and destroying 
bridges, railroads and telegraphs in his retreat. 
Reaching Booneville, forty miles distant, and one 
of the strongest secession towns in the State, he 
made a stand, throwing up earthworks; Price, being 
sick, kept on by steamboat to Lexington. 

They had not moved too soon. Gen. Lyon and 
his army let"t St. Tjouis by steamboats on the 13th, 
and reached JeH'erson City on the morning of the 
ir)th, only to find that the Confederate chiefs had 
started when he did, with a good hundred miles ad- 
vantage in the race. Re-embarking on the Kith, 
he reached Rockport, nearly opposite Booneville, 
next morning, and espied the rebel encampment just 
across the river. In it were collected some two or 
three tlumsand men, only half armed, and not at all 
drilled, under the immediate command of Colonel 
JIarmaduke. Jackson, utterly disconcerted by Lyon's 
unexpected rapidity of movement, had ordered his 
State Guard to be disbanded, and no resistance to be 
offered. But Marmaduke determined to fight, and 
started for the landing, where he ho))ed to surprise 
and cut up the Unionists while debarking. He met 
Lyon advancing in good order, and was easily routed 
by him, Tosing two guns, with much camp equipage, 
clothing, etc. His raw infantry were dispersed, but 
his strength in cavalry saved him from utter 
destruction. 



(fcneral Harney was at this time commander in the 
I)e[i:irtiiieiit of tiie West, ;us it wa.s ternicd, and 
tli(jugh his loyalty had been called in ipifstion, no 
evidence had been produced against him. It was 
evident, however, whether from aversion to shedding 
the blood of citizens, or from want of sympathy with 
the administration, he could not be relied upon in 
the i)rosecution of prompt and decided measures. 
Perhaps, however, at this time he was quite up to the 
administration. It did not seem so much averse to 
have others act with energy, as it was disinclined to 
assume resiionsibility of doing anything which would 
produce bloodshed. 

After an attack of the mob on the Home Guards, at 
St. Louis, in May, in which several men were killed, 
Harney issued a ju'ochimation rather deprecatory than 
authoritative. So, in an agreement he afterwards 
made with General Price, the rebel Governor's right- 
hand man, he sliowed a willingness to temporize with 
the rebels, which Lyon, with his greater sagacity, and 
clearer ideas of the rights and ])0\vers of the General 
Govei'ument, saw was foolish and suicidal. 

George B. McClellan, appointed by the President 
as major-general, was ordered to take charge of 
Western Virginia, when she, having taken a decided 
stand for the Union, asked for assistance in men and 
arms to drive the rebels over the mountains. 
Educated at West Point, he sjiw active service In 
Mexico, and afterwards, with two others, was sent by 
the Government to the Crimea to witness the grand 
military operations going on there between Russia and 
the combined forces of England anrl France. Return- 
ing from this mission, he resigned his position in 
the army to accept the more lucrative one of 
l)resident of a Western railroad. At the breaking 
out of the rebellion his services were sought 
for, and he was the first to receive the ap- 
pointment of major-general in the regular army, 
thus ranking next to Gen. Scott, for Gen. Wool was 
only major-general by brevet. Just before starting 
for \'irginia, in the latter part of ^tay, he issued an 
address to his soldiers full of sjjirit and patriotism, 
and another to the people of Virginia. His presence 
there, and the occupation of A'irginia by our troops 
in front of Washington, stung the pride of the 
South, and roused the secessionists to the highest 
pitch of indignation. The Northern hordes had dared 
to pollute with hostile feet Southern soil, and the cry 
rung over the slave States to rise and hurl back the 
daring invaders. The Potomac, from just below Al- 
e.Kandria nearly to Fortress Monroe, began to be 



28 



THE REBELLION. 



lined with their batteries ; while from little above 
Washington, the river, for most of the way, also 
served as a dividing line between the hostile forces. 
The movements of our troops, however, rendered the 
occupation of Harper's Ferry, which the rebels had 
held since Lieut. Jones set fire to the public works 
there, untenable, and they evacuated it. Their main 
force was rapidly concentrating at Manassas Junction, 
a strong natural position, about thirty miles south- 
ward from Wasliington. Skirmishing between the 
pickets along the lines was now incessant, relieved 
occasionally by more or less important engagements 
between large bodies of troops. 

One of the most important of these engagements 
cocurred on the 1st of June, at Phillippi, between a 
force of the enemy, variously estimated at fifteen 
hundred and two thousand, under Col. Porterfield, 
and four regiments of Union troops, in two divisions, 
commanded by Cols. Lander and Kelly. The two 
latter left Grafton at ten o'clock at night on the 
second of June, and proceeding by railroad to within 
twenty-five n^iles of Phillippi, disembarked their 
troojjs in a terrible storm of rain. The columns 
were formed in total darkness, and set forward rap- 
idly. In dead silence they pushed on through the 
storm, but the darkness and mud so impeded their 
progress that they did not arrive before Phillipjji till 
near light. The attack was to be in two divisions, 
Col. Kelly making a circuit so as to take them in 
rear, while Col. Lander should move on them in front. 
The hour fixed for the attack was four o'clock in 
the morning, but Col. Kelly was unable to be at the 
designated jilace at that hour. Col. Lander's com- 
mand, in the meantime, stood and waited for the 
order to advance till daylight revealed them to the 
enemy. The Colonel, then, seeing the enemy's camp 
in commotion, and fearing they were about to escajie 
by flight, ordered his artillery, situated at the brow of 
a hill, to open upon them. At that moment the 
column of Col. Kelly came in sight across the river, 
below the camp, and hearing the heavy boom of Lau- 
der's guns, rushed forward with a shout. The rebels, 
hearing the rapid roll of drums in front and rear, 
and catching sight of the gleaming bayonets, 
turned and fled in confusion. Kelly broke with a 
shout into the town, only to find it emptied of the 
enemy. Passing along, he suddenly fell from his 
horse, shot by some one concealed behind a fence or 
in a house. He was struck full in the breast, and 
was supposed, at first, to be mortally wounded. 
Wagons loaded with munitions of war, forage, officer's 



blankets and baggage, were abandoned by the 
enemy in their precipitate flight and fell into our 
hands. 

Another small affair occurred in the latter part of 
this month, which provoked a great deal of comment 
at the North. General Schenck, of Ohio, was sent, 
with six hundred and sixty-eight men, to take jjosses- 
sion of Vienna, a small village in front of our lines on 
the Potomac. Leaving companies stationed at 
different points along the way, he proceeded with 
four comjjanies in the cars to within a quarter of a 
mile of the place, when he run right into masked 
batteries placed near the road. The balls went crash- 
ing through the cars, when the engine was sud- 
denly stopped, the men hurried out, and ordered to 
fall back along the road. The enemy, instead 
of following up his success and completing the 
destruction of the detachment, thinking a larger force 
close at hand, also retreated. Our loss, in killed, 
wounded and missing, was twenty-one. This march- 
ing on the enemy in a railroad train, without any 
scouts being sent in advance to reconnoiter, was 
looked upon as a most extraordinary mode of f)ro- 
ceeding, and received the severest condemnation. It 
was, however, strictly in keeping with the unreason- 
able, headlong spirit of the North, that seemed to 
think our brave troops had only to take the first train, 
and rush unchecked over the South. 

Thus the month of June wore slowly away, without 
anything decisive being done, and serving only to 
reveal the chaos and embarrassments in which the 
country was struggling. Fugitive slaves escaping to 
our army now l)egan to present a problem difficult of 
solution. What should be done with them? was a 
a question pressed on the Government from every 
side. 

General Butler, who had been placed in command 
in Maryland, had, for the time being, disposed of it 
by calling them "contraband of war," and they after- 
wards took the name of " contrabands," a species of 
property not before recognized in international law. 
But it was becoming apparent that the question 
was too complicated to admit of a solution in 
this way. 

The close of the month was signalized by the 
capture of the schooner Savannah, the first rebel 
privateer that had ventured out upon the oce^n. 

All eyes were now turned towards the apjiroaching 
session of Congress. Its presence was required to 
sanction some of the acts of the President, which, 
though deemed necessary by all, were felt by the best 



THK ItKI'.KTJJON. 



on 



men of the couiitr}' to need tlie aiitliority of Congress. 
Many, liowever, who were familiar witli eongrossional 
history, and remembered how it liud always, from the 
Revolution down, made polities paramount to suceess 
in the liekl, trembled with anxiety. While the mem- 
bers were slowly gathering to the Capital, on the first 
of July, the eommen'ial men of the .Vorth were 
startled witii the re[)ort that tlie first formidable 



])rivateer, the steamer Sumter, had escaped the 
blockade at New Orleans, and wa.s oil on her miesion 
of destructio7i on the deep. Whether she would way- 
lay our richly-freighted steamers from California, or 
sweep down on our unprotected commerce on tlie 
Atlantic, no one could tell; and, in the uncertainty 
attached to her career, her power to work mischief 
became greatly ?iiagnified in the public imagimition. 



ClTAl'TElf VI. 



JiNi:, ISdl. 



At this time Congress was debating on a proper 
method to carry on the war, while General McClellan, 
in Western Virginia, was showing them what could be 
done by conducting a war on strictly strategic prin- 
ciples. 

General McClellon arrived at Grafton on the 23rd, 
and at once issued a proclamation severely condemn- 
ing the guerrilla warfare to which the rebels were 
addicted. On the 95th he issued a second address to 
his soldiers, exhorting them to forbear pillage and 
outrage of every kind, remembering always that the 
people were their friends. His forces were rapidly 
augmented till they amounted, by the 4th of July, to 
over 30, ()()() men; while the rebels in his front could 
hardly muster 10,000 in all. He, therefore, resolved ' 
to advance. The rebel main force, several thousand 
strong, under General Robert S. Garnett, was 
strongly intrenched on Laurel Hill, a few miles north 
of Beverly, the capital of Randolph county, holding 
the road to I'hillippi; while a smaller detachment, 
under Colonel John Pegram, was intrenched upon 
the summit and at either l)ase of Rich Mountain, 
where passes the turnpike from Beverly westward to 
Buckhannon — his position being a strong one,three or 
four miles from the rebel main body. McClellan, after 
reconnoitering and determining by scouts the position 
of the enemy, decided first to attack and crush 
Pegram; and, to this end, sent Colonel Rosecrans to 
make a detour of eight miles through the mountains, 
and gain the turnpike two or three miles in the rear 
of Pegram. This was successfully accomplished; but 
a dragoon, dispatched by McClellan with orders to 
Rosecrans, was captured during the day, and the plan 
of attack discovered. The rebels were found in- 
trenched on the top of the mountain, with three 
cannon, Rosecrans — who had marched since daylight 
through forests and thickets i)f laurel, under a cold. 



pelting rain, by mountain bridle-paths, and, in part, 
through trackless woods — had, of course, no artillery. 
He approached the rebel jiosition about noon, and 
was immediately opened upon by their guns, wJiich 
made much noise to little purpose. The vigorous 
musketry fire soon opened on either side was little 
more effective, because of the rain, the inequalities of 
the ground, and the density of the low, bushy forest. 
But the Unionists were largely superior in numbers, 
and, after half an hour of this random firing, were 
ordered to fix and charge bayonets, which orders were 
promptly and vigorously obeyed. The rebels at once 
took to flight, leaving their cannons, wagons, tents, 
provisions and stores, with 1:55 dead. 

General McClellan remained throughout the day 
inactive in front of Colonel Pcgram's position, await- 
ing advices from Rosecrans, that failed to reach him. 
Pegram, better advised of Rosecrans' operations, and 
justly alarmed for his ow<i safety, attempted to escape 
during the following night, but found it impossible, 
and was compelled, after a day's hiding in the forest, to 
surrender his remaining force — about six hundred 
men — at discretion. General Garnett, hearing of 
Pcgram's defeat, commenced a hurried retreat through 
the mountains. General Morris took jiossession of 
his camp on Laurel Hill, on the 12th ; next day, at 
eleven o'clock, five regiments of Ohio and Indiana 
troops started in pursuit. The rebels had taken a 
by-road directly over the mountains, pushing straight 
for Cheat River. Our column pushed on that after- 
noon and encamped about two miles south of Leeds- 
ville. The next morning, at two o'clock, the loud 
reveille called up the weary soldiers, who, snatching 
a hasty breakfast, started after the fugitives. The 
rain soon began to fall in torrents, turning the roads 
into a bed of mortar, and making the wild and deso- 
late scene still more forbidding Thcv wanted no 



30 



THE REBELLION. 



guide to direct the course which the enemy had 
taken, for the trampled mud, the abandoned tents, 
trunks, haversacks, and blankets, strewing the road, 
marked plainly enough the route they had taken. 
Trees had been felled across the road to obstruct our 
passage, which the axe-men ahead were compelled to 
clear away ; and hour after hour, the only sounds 
that smote the ear, were the rapid blows of the axe, 
as though the stern occupation of the soldier had 
given place to that of the peaceful wood-chopper. 
Over creeks and rocks, across hills and through dense 
forests, the rebels took their course, hoping to 
elude pursuit; but like the Western hunter on the 
track of his game, these Western soldiers pressed 
steadily after. Across swollen streams, up muddy 
heights, adown which the kneaded mire flowed like 
thick tar, they kept on, only halting long enough in 
the storm to snatch a bite of biscuit. At last they 
emerged from Laurel Mountain, and came out on 
Cheat river, at Kahler's ford. It was now noon, 
and, after a halt, the tired troops were glad to dash 
into the stream, to wash off the mud of the moun- 
tains, which plastered them to their waistbands. As 
they emerged from the ford, they caught sight of 
the fleeing rebels, and at the second ford below, 
found them drawn iip in line of battle. But the 
first cannon shot set them in motion again, and 
throwing away their remaining baggage, even their 
canteens, they streamed in disorder forward. Again 
being pushed so close that their baggage train was in 
danger of falling into our hands, they a second time 
drew up in line of battle, and seenied determined to 
dispute our passage. But as soon as the baggage got 
under way, they resumed their retreat, — the shouts of 
the teamsters, as they flogged the tired animals, 
rising in discordant sounds about the tree tops. It 
was a wild chase, through a wild country. Three 
miles farther on, they came to ''Carrick's ford," 
where the mountains receding away from the river, 
left an open space which .had been turned into a 
farm. The bank of the stream here was fringed with 
laurel bushes and a fence, while a bliifl farther back 
completely commanded the approach. On this, 
Garnett had placed his artillery, while the infantry 
was drawn lap behind the laurel bushes and fence. 
It was a capital position, and no one knew it better 
than Garnett. With good troojis under him, he 
could hardly have been driven from it. The teams 
had been left standing in the stream, whether on 
purpose to draw our soldiers under fire, or from in- 
ability to proceed, was not known, and apparently as 



little heeded. The skirmishers dashed fearlessly up 
to the bank, when the teamsters called out, "Don't 
shoot, we are going to surrender." The captain then 
called out, "Colonel, they are going to surrender." 
Colonel Stedman then ordered his regiment forward 
at the double quick, but as it came up, shoulder to 
shoulder, Garnett shouted, " Fire ! " The bank of 
the stream was instantly a long line of flame. The 
fearless Fourteenth Ohio, though taken by surprise, 
never flinched, and halting only long enough to deliver 
one volley, sprang forward. At this moment the ar- 
tillery on the blurt' opened, and had it been well di- 
rected, would have shattered that regiment to atoms. 
But the shot flew just over their heads. Milroy's 
regiment then came up and delivered an oblique fire. 
In the meantime. Colonel Dumont, with six com- 
panies, was ordered to cross the stream some three 
hundred yards farther up, and ascending the hill 
take the enemy in the rear. Before his difficult mis- 
sion was fulfilled, the order was countermanded, and 
he was directed to proceed down the ford with his 
command, and charge them in front, on the road. 
Wheeling, he took the middle of the stream, wading 
down, often waist deep, through the fire, till he 
reached the position assigned him. Seeing his ad- 
vance, the enemy broke, and crossing a wheat field, 
pushed for another ford, a quarter of a mile below. 
Eeaching it, they dashed through the stream without 
• stopping to defend the passage, and continued their 
flight. Garnett, incensed at their dastardly conduct, 
strove in vain to rally them. The last to cross the 
stream, he dismounted, and stood waving his hand- 
kerchief, and shouting to them to halt, when Major 
Gordon, of the United States Army, came up, and 
seeing the enemy had huddled together in the road 
on the opposite side, shouted to the advance of Du- 
mont's command, which was already coming down on 
a run. The next instant a bullet pierced the brave 
but erring rebel commander, and throwing up his 
hands he fell dead where he stood. Not an officer 
wasn ear him ; all had ingloriously fled, leaving him 
alone, save a young and delicate boy from Georgia, 
who, nobly refusing to desert him, fell dead by his 
side. 

The pursuit was kept up for two miles farther, 
when our troops gave out from exhaustion, and 
bivouacked for the night. The scattered dead and 
wounded were picked up, the latter tenderly cared 
for, and the former consigned to their hastily-dug 
graves. But none was handled more gently than that 
gallant boy, who had fallen beside his General. 



TlIK UKBKIJJON-. 



31 



Tliose lioi'i'O soldiers laid liiiii in ii griivo by himself/ 
and jiliicfd :i liourd iit his head, on which tJiey wrote: 
" Naini' unknown — a brave fellow who shared his 
(ieneral'.s fate, and fell fighting by his side while his 
companions had lied." (ieneral Garnctt, while an 
ollicer in the United States Army, hnd won distinc- 
tion in the Mexican War. Our loss was slight. All 
told, in both engagements, it would not reach sixt}', 
while that of the enemy in killed alone was nearly 
two hundred, besides a thousand captured. 

This forced march of over thirty mili'S, in less than 
twenty-four hours, through rain and mud, and over 
mountains, rocks and streams, the troops almost with- 
out food, some tasting nothing for thirty-six hours, 
speaks volumes for the volunteer forces under (ieneral 
McClellan. ^'eteran regulars could not have done 
better. 

The whole rebel army in Western Virginia was 
estimated to be ten thousand strong. A portion of 
those were at the south, on tlie Kanhawa River, under 
General Wise. General Cox, from Ohio, was opposed 
to him, and at the time these victories were being 
achieved in the northern part of the State, was gradu- 
ally pushing this terrible, erratic fire-eater of Virginia 
before him. The same day on which McClellan had 
dated his dispatches to the Government, this General 
put his force in motion to attack the enemy, which 
bad taken i)osition at Barboursville. At midnight, a 
portion of Colonel Woodrull's command was roused 
from their slumbers, and under Lieutenant-Colonel 
Neff, with one day's rations in their haversacks, 
started off, a Union man from Barboursville being 
their guide. The plan was to attack at daylight. 
But the dead silence that reigned along their 
march rendered the commander suspicious that all 
was not right, and he made frequent halts in 
order to send out scouts. This delayed the march, 
so that he did not arrive before the ])lace till 
the sun was two hours high. The enemy had been 
apprised of their approach, and when the little band 
came in view of tiie place, the sight that met their 
gaze would have appalled less gallant hearts. On the 
brow of a hill, just beyond Guyandotte river, which 
was spanned by a single bridge, the rebels were drawn 
up in line of battle, their bayonets gleaming in the 
'early sunlight, while around them, on every side, 
stretched a vast level plain. Near the base of the 
hill was a large body of cavalry, that immediately be- 
gan to fall back, right and left, in order to take our 
column in Hank and rear after it had crossed the 
bridge. Though fearfully outnumbered, the fearless 



column never faltered, but pushed straight for the 
bridge. The moment the head entered it, the rebels 
jioured in a destructive volley. Receiving it without 
lliiicliing, the little band, with a loud cheer, dashed 
on a run across it. But when nearly over, they were 
met by a chasm made by the uptorn planks, which had 
been carried away. The mule of the guide went 
through before he could be brougbt to a halt, and the 
rider saved himself only by clinging to the timbers. 
Tbe rebels, seeing the column thus suddenly 
arrested, rent the air with cheers and yells. Mad- 
dened by these shouts of triumj)h and loud taunts, 
our soldiers dashed forward, each for himself; and 
some crawling along on the string-pieces, and some 
swinging along the rafters, they at length cleared the 
gap, though in utter confusion. The rebels, before 
they had time to form, charged ou their flank. But the 
blood of the men was now fairly uj), and without wait- 
ing to re-form, they sent up a shout, and clambering 
up the hill, holding on to roots and bushes, charged 
like mad men on the solid line. Ai)palled at the des- 
l)erate daring, the rebels fired one volley, and then 
turned and fled like a herd of frightened deer down 
the hill in rear. The victorious troops sent a few 
flying shots after them, and then, with streaming 
banners and victorious strains of martial music, 
turned and marched through the town. It was nobly, 
gallantly done. Following up his success. Cox over- 
took Wise at Ganley bridge, who retreated without 
risking a battle. Thus, in a little over a month. 
Western Virginia was cleared of the rebels. 

McClellan's short but brilliant campaign had 
electrified the North, and all eyes turned to him as 
the man on whom the mantle of Scott would ulti- 
mately fall. The old veteran aiul hero was too far ad- 
vanced in years to take the field in person, while his 
physical infirmities rendered hini unequal to the tre- 
mendous responsibilities connected with the conduct 
of so vast a war. 

While these stirring events were occurring in 
Western Virginia, and the army along the Potomac 
was quietly gathering its energies for a great battle, 
Missouri was rent by the ravages of civil war. Side 
by side with Lyon, another officer was rapidly acquir- 
ing a National reputation. Colonel Sigel iiad seen 
service in Europe, and being i)laced in command of a 
German regiment, took the field in Missouri early in 
summer aiul arrived at Springfield on the :23d of 
June. Hearing that Jackson was making his way 
southward to form a junction with General Price, 
who was encamped in Neosiio, the county seat of 



32 



THE REBELLION. 



Newton county, he determined to attack the latter 
before the rebel governor could come up. Reaching 
Neosho on the 1st of July, he entered it without 
opposition, Price having retreated. The next day he 
learned that Price, Rains, and Jackson had succeeded 
in uniting their forces about eight miles north of 
Carthage. He immediately informed General Sweeny, 
who was at Springfield, of the fact, and received orders 
in return to proceed at once and attack his camp. 
Accordingly, on the 4th of July, with about twelve 
hundred men, he took up his line of march, and on 
the morning of the 6th came upon the enemy in great 
force, encamped in the open prairie, most of them 
mounted. Though plainly outnumbered, he moved 
his column, which looked a mere speck on the wide 
prairie, steadily forward, till he came within eight 
hundred yards of the rebel camp. He then halted, 
and unlimbering his artillery, which was composed of 
six six, and two twelve-pounders, oijened fire. On 
the right and left, the white jjulfs of smoke shot out 
over the prairie, followed by the deejD reverberations 
of the guns, rolling away over the vast expanse. The 
rebels, who occupied a slight swell on the plain, 
replied, and for a time a brisk artillery fire was kept 
up, while not a tree or a shrub or hill obstructed the 
view or sheltered the combatants. The rebel practice 
was miserable, their balls and shells going over the 
heads of Sigel's command and exploding in the prai- 
rie. On the other hand, their guns were being dis- 
mounted one after another, when, at two o'clock, their 
cavalry moved off to the right and left, with the inten- 
tion of outflanking Sigel, and cutting off his baggage 
train, which had been left three miles in the rear. The 
latter, penetrating at once the design of the move- 
ment, ordered two six-pounders to the rear, and 
changing front, commenced falling back in a steady, 
orderly manner, keeping up a continuous fire as he 
moved. Not a sound was heard through the quiet, 
determined ranks, except the occasional orders of the 
oflicers, as the line of glittering steel moved swiftly 
over the prairie, while the clouds of cavalry hovered 
darkly on either side, afraid to venture within range 
of the death-dealing guns. At length he reached his 
baggage wagons, fifty in number, toiling slowly for- 
ward. These were at once formed into a solid square, 
and, surrounded by the artillery and infantry, moved 
slowly back until they approached Dry Fork Creek, 
where the road passed between two bluffs. On the 
opposite side of this stream the cavalry, failing to cut 
off the baggage train, were drawn up to stop the 
retreat. But along that road, which led to Carthage, 



it was absolutely necessary Colonel Sigel should pass, 
for to fall back to the open prairie, would leave him 
to be surrounded by a vastly superior force, while to 
remain where he was would expose him to a similar 
danger. He immediately dispatched two cannon to 
the right, and two to tlie left, followed by a part of his 
force, as though he intended to cut a road for himself 
at these points at all hazards. The enemy, seeing 
these movements, immediately left the road in which 
they stood massed, and moved to the right and left to 
prevent it. Sigel allowed them to approach within a 
few hundred yards, when, suddenly unlimbering his 
guns, he poured in a terrific cross-fire, and at the 
same time gave the orders to the main army to double- 
quick. The column started off on a sharp trot, and 
with loud cheers cleared the bridge, while the 
enemy's cavalry, rent by shrapnell and canister, 
scattered in every direction. Horses with empty 
saddles went neighing and galloping madly over the 
plain, and the whole body fled in the widlest con- 
fusion. Several prisoners were taken, who stated 
that the rebel force was five thousand five hundred 
strong. Colonel Sigel now moved rapidly forward 
towards Carthage, occasionally saluting squads of the 
enemy, that kept hovering along his flank, with his 
artillery. But, on reaching the town, he found it, to 
his surprise, in the hands of the enemy, and a seces- 
sion flag waving from the top of the courthouse. 
This the exasperated soldiers soon shot down. Sigel, 
seeing himself thus outnumbered, and his ammuni- 
tion giving out, determined at all hazards to effect a 
junction with the balance of the southwestern army, 
concentrated at Mount Vernon and Springfield. To 
effect this he saw it was necessary to reach Sarcoxie,some 
eight miles from Carthage. The road to this place led 
through a dense forest, which, if he could gain, would 
protect him from the enemy's cavalry. Aware of 
this, the rebels had taken possession of the road lead- 
ing to it, and prepared to dispute his passage. The 
infantry now, for the first time, on both sides, came 
into close conflict and the action became at once fierce 
and bloody. Though the rebels outnumbered Sigel's 
force almost five to one, their short guns and old- 
fashioned muskets were no match for the Minie 
rifles of the latter, and they fell by scores before the 
murderous vollies that were poured into their ranks. 
For two hours, from a quarter past six to half imst 
eight, the battle raged without a moment's intermis- 
sion. The sun sank on the strife, twilight came and 
went, and darkness finally settled over the woods, but 

Sigel's progress. 



still the struggle did not cease 



THE RKBKI-MON. 



3:{ 



however, could be detected by his advancing line of 
fire, and at last the enemy retreated. Our troops had 
now been niarcliing; and fighting for ten hours under 
a hot July sun, but Sigel, fearing to eiulanger his 
command by halting long in the presence of so supe- 
rior a force, kept on in the darkness, reaching Sar- 
coxic in the morning, from whence lie leisurely 
continued his retreat to Mount Vernon. 

Sigel had handled his little force throughout the 
trying circumstances, with which he had been sur- 
rounded, with consummate skill, and shown himself 
an able tactician, as well as a cool and resolute com- 
mander. His entire loss in killed and wounded was 
only forty-four, while that of the enemy was supposed 
to be between three and four hundred. 



While these events were occurring in Jlissouri and 
Western Virginia, the Union men in Kentucky were 
making desperate efforts to keep the State out of the 
hands of the set'cssioiiists. Success, however, seemed 
doubtful. Hreckenridge was very popular with the 
young men of the State, and he and otbers were 
o(iually determined that the powerful aid of Kentucky 
should be secured for the Southern Confederacy. 
P>ast Tennessee stood loyal to the Union, and was 
struggling manfully to kccj) at least that part of the 
State true to the old flag. Her devotion to the 
Union was admirable and cost her afterwards untold 
8ull'crin£r. 



CHAPTER VII. 



July, 1801. 



The President issued his proclamation on the -ith 
day of July, which did not meet the public expecta- 
tion, as it consisted chiefly of a detailed history of 
the Secession movement, and an argument to jtrove 
that the doctrine of State Rights, on which it was 
foiindeil, was unsound and ruinous. But this had 
been fully discussed and dis]H)sed of long ago. The 
country demanded energetic action. The long-abused 
and forbearing Xorth had finally- got thoroughly 
roused. It iuid done with argument the moment it 
had drawn the sword, and was impatient of any ap- 
peal except the trumpet-call to battle. It was provi- 
dential that the President took a calmer survey of 
affairs. The excited state of public feeling needed 
the restraining power of his well-balanced mind, to 
prevent rash measures which might cripple our re- 
sources and endanger our ultimate success. With all 
his conservatism he could not wholly save us from 
disaster, by which we learned more — perhaps too 
great — caution. 

At this time the chief divisions of the army along 
our line of defense, under Scott, were commanded as 
follows: General Butler, at Fortress Monroe ; (Jcncral 
Banks, at Annapolis; McDowell, in front of Wash- 
ington ; Patterson, near Harper's Ferry ; McClellan, 
in Western Virginia ; Anderson — the hero of Fort 
Sumter — in Kentucky ; and Harney, in Missouri. 
On the rebel side, Beauregard was at JIanassas ; J. E. 
Johnston — opjiosed to Patterson — up the Potomac ; 
Bishop Polk, of Louisiana (made Major-CiencraJ), on 
the Mississippi ; Sidney A. Johnson — a traitor from 



the United States Army in California — in the South- 
west ; and Price, in Missouri. Davis had called out 
man for man to offset the army of the North, and 
everything was supj)osed to turn on the result of the 
first meeting of these two mighty armies. In the far 
West, among tiie Indians boi-dcring on Kansas, under 
our protection, and in the liarren regions of Xew 
Mexico, the rebels were hard at work stirring up 
treason, and assailing the weak detachments of the 
army stationed on our outjiosts. In the South, Fort 
Pickens — the only stronghold we still held on the 
gulf — was menaced. 

It was soon ajiparent that politicians in Congress, 
pushed forward by reckless partisan newspapers, were 
bent on a sudden advance of the army on the Poto- 
mac. Some of the most influential of these kept fly- 
ing at the head of their columns, " On' to Rich- 
MOXi) I" The military sagacity of Scott was ridi- 
culed as "old fogyism:" his cautious, wise policy 
pronounced to be the result of disinclination to invade 
his native State, and the elaborate fortifications he 
was erecting across the Potomac, laughed at as evi- 
dence of imbecile old age. In short, military science 
and experience were derided, and the organization 
and proper preparation of an army for an arduous 
campaign in the ordinary way, stigmatized as a pro- 
ceeding of the " circumlocution office." The South- 
erners were dastards, the North invincible, and hence 
these elaborate j)reparations and delays totally un- 
called for. We bad the power, and .-dl that was 
necessary to assure success was to let it loose. Never 



:J4 



TUE REBELLION. 



before in the history of the world did popular passion, 
at the beginning of a fearful, mighty war, so over- 
slaugh military science. Out of this state the nation 
must be extricated, by reason and moderation, or 
startled from it by a thunder-clap of misfortune that 
would make every heart stand still with terror. The 
probable cost of the war liad hardly yet received the 
attention of the people. We had been so accustomed 
to believe our wealth and resources absolutely e.xhaust- 
less, that money, the first thing that should have 
been thought of, was ap]iarently the last. Funds 
for immediate use were, of course, wanted. The 
President, in his message, had called for $4:00.000,000. 
But Congress, taking a more moderate view of the 
public exigencies, proposed a loan bill authorizing 
the Secretary of the Treasury to borrow $250,000,000 
on the faith of the United States — the revenue of the 
Government being pledged to the payment of the 
interest. This gave to the small opposition in the 
House an excellent opportunity to make an onslaught 
uiwn the Administration, and a spirited debate en- 
sued, in which Vallandigham, of Ohio, led of: against 
the measure. It passed, however, July llth, by an 
overwhelming vote. The fact that Congress thought 
this sum would be suiBcient, and that the necessary 
expenses could be met without resorting to extraordi- 
nary taxation, shows how destitute of well-read states- 
men that body was. Such men as Webster, Clay, 
Calhoun, and others, who illustrated the Congress 
that carried us through the War of 1812, were want- 
ing ; and thoughtful men, in the most trying period 
of our existence, looked anxiously around for the 
leading, controlling mind, which could embi-aee the 
full measure of our wants and our dangers. A por- 
tion of the more ultra Eepublicans seemed to see in 
this appalling crisis of the country only an excellent 
opportunity to push their measures for the abolition 
of slavery. The loyal men from the Border States 
became alarmed at this, and evinced great uneasiness. 
Western Virginia, having formed a provisional gov- 
ernment, with Pierpont as Governor, selit members 
of Congress to Washington. Owen Lovejoy, of Illi- 
nois, having offered a resolution to rejDeal the fugi- 
tive slave law, these were instructed by the Legis- 
lature in session in Wheeling — the improvised 
capital — to vote against it, while at the same 
time they were directed to vote for money 
and men to carry on the war. The- Senate seemed 
to have a more correct view of the struggle on which 
we had entered, and passed a bill authorizing the 
employment of five hundred thousand volunteers, 



and voting for an appropriation of half a million of 
dollars. The Southern Congress, thinking the North 
was playing simply a game of brag, responded with a 
similar call for men and money. Thus, whether the 
movers in the matter comprehended it or not, the 
war was assuming proportions so vast that the mind 
shrunk aghast at the contemplation. Acts were also 
passed sanctioning the blockade proclaimed by the 
President, and providing for the collection of the 
revenues of the seceding States. In the meantime, 
news having reached the country that the privateer 
Sumter was burning our ships on the high seas, a 
bill was passed authorizing the Secretary of the 
Navy to purchase or contract for such vessels, and to 
make such increase in the naval force, as he might 
deem necessary to suppress privateering, and enforce 
the blockade, and appropriated $3,000,000 for the 
purpose. Having done what it thought its duty in the 
present emergency, it was anxious to see the army 
begin its work. Scott, whose for reaching sagacity 
saw that the public expectation of a great and decis- 
ive battle which should end the rebellion was doomed 
to disappointment, and that an immediate advance 
on the eneni}', even if victorious, could [not be fol- 
lowed up to any decisive result, scarcely knew what 
course to adopt. In the first place, the troops assem- 
bled before Washington, were mostly enlisted for 
three months, and if they were disbanded without 
being allowed to strike a blow, the public would be 
disheartened, and future enlistments might be ren- 
dered difficult. Besides, the public expected some- 
thing of this vast army — it could not see why,'if the 
war was ever to begin, it should not commence at 
once, while the capital was threatened. Our troops 
were certainly as brave, numerous, and better armed 
than the enemy. It could not see the vast difference 
between raw and unskilled troops moving to attack 
a foe in a strong position of his own choos- ' 
ing, and one standing on the defensive behind 
its intrenchments. Congress was pressed by pol- 
iticians, the President and Cabinet by Con- 
gress, and Scott by both, till finally a forward 
movement was determined upon. But difficulties, 
which none but a militiarj' commander could see, 
lay in the way. Regiments already formed and 
equipped, could, with our railroad facilities, be 
transferred with comparative ease to the Capital, but 
provisions, the means of transportation, and all the 
appliances and accessories necessary to the move- 
ment of a great army, were not so easily improvised. 
Still, after full deliberation, it was resolved to force a 



TIFM RE I'. KF, LION. 



35 



battle. The enemy at Manassas was suj)i)()sc(] to bo 
in immense force, yet no one, lor a moment, dreamed 
of a defeat. 

Beauregard conimaiidcd at tliis jioiiit, while .1. E. 
Johnston, at the head of some thirty thousand men, 
was in the neighborhood of Harper's Ferry. General 
Patterson, who had comnianded a division of volun- 
teers in tlie Mexican war, was assigned to the troops 
which liad been concentrating at Hagerstown and 
Willianisport to operate against liini, and on the 
2d of July crossed the I'otomac, driving the 
rebels before him. In a skirmisli near Ilaynesville, 
the army had behaved well, and much was expected 
of him. He was, however, bordering on his three- 
score-aud-ten, and not being distinguished in his best 
days for energy, could not be expected in his old age 
to exhibit much of this quality, so necessary to the 
vigorous prosecution of a campaign. In the apj)roach- 
ing advance of the army he was charged with the re- 
sponsible duty of taking care of Johnston — to hold 
him where he was, and thus jirevent him from rein- 
forcing Beauregard, or, if he attempted to retreat, to 
compel a battle. 

To Colonel McDowell, of the regular army, who 
had the reputation of being a brave and skillful offi- 
cer, was assigned the command of the division which 
was to move against Beauregard. He had been con- 
sulted as to the number of troops he should need, 
and allowed all tliat he asked for. In fixing the 
force, however, he expressly stated that he did not 
embrace in his calculation the army under Johnston. 
He promised success only on the condition that the 
Government should take care of him. 

Everything being in readiness, the army, over 
forty thousand strong, took up its march on the 
17th of July in five divisions; the first commanded 
by Gen. Tyler, of the Connecticut militia ; the 
second, by Col. Hunter; the third, by Col. Heint- 
zelman, of the regular army; the fourth, by Gen. 
Kunyon; and the fifth, by Col. Miles. The news 
of this imposing array having taken up its line of 
march for Manassas, as it traveled over the electric 
wires, created the most unbounded enthusiasm 
throughout the North. No gloomy forebodings 
dashed the general joy; no doubts clouded the be- 
lief that traitors were about to receive tlieir just 
punishment. \'isitors at Washington, and members 
of Congress, and members of the jiress, besieged the 
admistration for permission to accompany the army; 
and men on horseback, in carriages, and four horse 
omnibuses, brought up the rear, or obstructed the 



march of the victorious troops. Tliey went forth ua 
to a great Derby day. To the spectator it looked like 
a splendid military picnic about to come off among 
the wooded fields of N'irginia. In gay spirits, the air 
resounding with the stirring airs of the regimental 
bands, the July sun Hashing on the long lines of 
gleaming bayonets, the army moved rapidly over the 
country. l)rivii:g the enemy's i)ickets before it, the 
main column reached Fairfax, and encamped for the 
night. The troops, let loose from their long confine- 
ment, plundered everything tliey could lay their 
hands on, and tlie spirit of frolic ran riot in the 
camp. 

As Gen. Tyler ajjproached Centerville, he was 
directed by McDowell to establish himself there, and 
carefully observe all the ai)])roaclies to it. Instead of 
doing this, he pushed on to Bull Run, and observing 
the enemy's batteries on the further bank, opened fire 
on them. An extraordinary artillery duel followed, 
which lasted for some time with but little effect on 
either side, and which resulted in Tyler withdrawing 
his batteries. This action, brought on suddenlv, was 
wholly unexpected to McDowell, and done without 
his orders, and hence was the cause of much com- 
ment and angry discussion afterwards. Only one 
thing need be said of it, however, the enemy's line of 
battle lay along this stream, and no action was proper 
till the advancing army was in position, and a con- 
certed attack could be made. No reconnoitering had 
been made, and such a movement ran the hazard of 
bringing on a general engagement, while the bulk of 
the army was on the march and wholly ignorant of 
what was going on. 

The next day, Friday, a wide reconnoissance was 
made of the enemy's position, with a view to turning 
his flanks, for a straightforward movement on his 
strongly posted batteries was too desperate an under- 
taking to be thought of, except everything else should 
fail. From Centreville three roads branch off like 
the three s])okes of a wheel toward Bull Run, and 
McDowell determined to make the attack in three 
columns. Bull Run is a sluggish stream running 
from north-west to soifth-east, and crossed by numer- 
ous fords. Behind it the ground rises into elevations, 
while the shores are heavily wooded.. Along these 
the enemy had posted himself — his line extending for 
nearly eight miles. To the eiist, on our left, was 
Blackburn ford, where Tyler's artillery action took 
place. The strength of the enemy there was found 
too great to permit a movement on that flank, and so 
McDowell determined to turn his extreme left by a 



3(1 



THE REBELLICTN. 



ford which was so far to the west that the enemy, not 
dreaming of an attack in that quarter, had left it 
undefended. This task was assigned to Hunter's 
division. Heintzelmifti was to move against the 
strongly defended ford next below this, and the 
moment Hunter's division came down on the other 
side of the stream, driving the enemy before him, 
cross over and join him, when they together would 
keep down the stream. Tyler was to move along the 
Warrentown road, that crossed Bull Run just west of 
Centreville, and occupy the enemy at Stone Bridge, 
while the flank movement was being carried out. 
McDowell, fearing that, while this was going on, the 
enemy at Blackburn ford, on his extreme left, might 
attempt a similar movement on him, concentrated a 
heavy force there to keep him in check, and make 
him think that the main attack was to be made in 
that direction. The fifth division, under Miles, was 
stationed on the Centreville ridge, as a reserve. The 
plan seemed an admirable one, and gave every prom- 
ise of success. 

Saturday, at four o'clock in the morning, the order 
to march was given. It was a warm, moonlight night, 
and the army presented a magnificent spectacle as it 
began to move off through the green fields and over- 
hanging woods. The fires by which the host had 
cooked its midnight meal — the last to many a poor 
soldier — dotted the hillsides and hazy valleys as far as 
the eye could reach. Long lines of steel, flashing in 
the moonbeams — extended rows of army wagons,with 
their white tops — the dark-looking ambulances — wind- 
ing columns of cavalry, now bursting into view and 
now lost in deep shadows — combined to form a scene 
of thrilling interest. Not a drum or bugle cheered 
the march ; a deep silence, broken only by the heavy 
rumbling of artillery carriages, or the muffled tread 
of tiie advancing host, rested on forest and valley. 
The divisions, separating like the rays of a fan, moved 
off to their respective positions. Hunter and 
Heintzelmau took the same road until they came 
to the turn off to the ford where the latter was 
to be droi^ped. Hunter then kept on alone. 

It was evident that the battle-was to be lost or won 
by these two divisions, fourteen thousand strong. 
The rest of the army was only to keep the enemy in 
front occupied till they were seen coming down the 
opposite bank, then the general advance was to take 
place, for the battle was assuredly won. The Sab- 
bath morning broke, warm and pleasant, and at six 
o'clock Tyler was in front of the enemy's center, and 
soon a thirty pound rifled Parrott gun — the signal 



agreed on by which he was to announce he was in 
position — awoke the morning echoes, and the shell 
bursting in mid air announced to the enemy that the 
decisive hour had come. The duty assigned him 
was to threaten the bridge, which here crossed the 
stream, till the appearance of Hunter's and Heintz- 
elmen's divisions on the other side coming down the 
stream, when he was to move across to their support. 
He had reached his position at half past five, and 
hence had ample time to survey that of the enemy 
on the farther side. The latter was posted on 
heights that rose in regular slopes from the shore, 
broken into knolls and terraces, crowned here and 
there by earthworks. The woods that interfered 
with his cannon ranges had all been cut away, and 
his jTuns had a clean sweep of every approach. On 
our side the descent was more gradual, and covered 
with a dense forest. A look-out was stationed in a 
tree that overlooked the surrounding country, from 
which he could observe the progress of the flanking 
columns under Hunter and Heintzelman. Hour 
after hour this division stood thus on the ridge that 
overlooked Bull Run and the bridge, doing nothing, 
except now and then sending a shell from its thirty- 
two pound Parrott gun at bodies of infantry and cav- 
alry that, far inland, could be detected moving in the 
direction of Hunter's and Heintzelman's divisions. 
Colonel Richardson, with his brigade, (detached 
for the time being from the fifth division in reserve 
under Miles) took the position at Blackburn ford, 
still farther down the stream, to threaten the passage 
there. While Tyler was to wait the appearance of 
Hunter and Heintzelman across the stream before 
commencing his attack, Richardson, below him, was 
to await the thunder of Tyler's artillery as the signal 
for him to move on the ford. It will thus be seen 
that but one division (Tyler's) and one brigade 
(Richardson's) were on the stream, while the two di- 
visions of Hunter and Heintzelman were to open the 
battle — the other two beirig out of the fight — Miles 
in reserve at Centerville, and Runyon's protecting 
the communications with Vienna. The whole inter- 
est, therefore, centred on the two former divisions, 
and from little after sunrise every eye was strained 
in the direction they were expected to appear, and 
every ear open to hear the thunder of their artillery. 
These two columns, as before remarked, moved 
steadily along the same road, on their unknown 
journey up the stream and back of it, until they 
came to the place designated for Heintzelman to 
turn oft' to the left, to the ford where he was to cross. 



THK IIKKKM.ION. 



37 



But the road laid down on the map, and which lie 
was to take, was found to have no existence, in fact, 
and so he kept on after Hunter; and ahout eleven 
o'clock came to Dudley's Sprinj;s ford, where the lat- 
ter had just crossed, with the exception of one bri- 
gade, which was then enterinj; the water. It was ten 
miles from C'cntreville to this place, and the sol- 
diers, before reaching it, had become much exhausted. 
The enemy had got information of this movement, 
and from higli points of observation, large masses of 
troops could be seen moving rapidly towards the 
threatened point. The roar of artillery soon an- 
nounced that Hunter was engaged with the enemy. 
Heintzelman immediately ])ushcd forward his divis- 
ion, but firtding it slow work to get it over in a body, 
he ordered the regiments to break ofl' and cross sep- 
arately. The men, however, suffering from thirst, 
stopped to drink and fill their canteens, which 
delayed the march. McDowell, having stationed 
himself where he could the most quickl}' receive re- 
ports from the different divsions, had at length flung 
himself on the ground to got a little rest, as he was 
Buffering from illness. At half past ten u courier 
dashed up to him, and announced that Hunter was 
across Bull Run. He immediately sprang to the 
saddle, and galloped off to accompany the column on 
which the fate of the day deiiended. The brave 
Porter, the gallant Buruside, and the chJValrous 
Sprague were in the advance of Hunter, driving the 
enemy steadily before them. Soon Heintzelman 
appeared also on the left, and the amazed «neiny saw 
their position turned. The advancing columus were 
at last seen from the look-outs at Tyler's position, and 
huge columns of smoke rising in the summer air and 
waving to and fro in the sunlight, showed where the 
encountering ho.sts were struggling for victory. Then 
idl along that sluggish stream, for live miles in extent, 
the artillery opened, and the columns were put in 
motion. Tyler's left wing swept forward, the famous 
Irish regiment, sixteen huudred strong, leading the 
van. With the quick step at first, then the double- 
quick, they, with shouts that shook the field, flung 
themselves forward, skirting with their glittering 
steel the edge of the forest. Coats, haversacks, 
everything that could impede their progress, were cast 
loose. Meagher galloped at their iiead, and shouting, 
•'Come on, boys* you iiave got your chance at last!" 
led them fiercely on the foe. The Seveuty-uinth 
Highlanders, the Thirteenth New York, and Second 
Wisconsin followed. It was now high noon, and the 
battle began to rage with terrible fury. Iluiitci' bad 



been wounded, but his and Ileintzelman's divisions 
kejit on their terrible way, steadily jiushing the 
enemy before them. Rickett's battery, after losing 
nearly every num at the guns, fell into the hands of 
the enemy. Out of the woods volumes of smoke 
writhed fiercely upwards, telling where bodies 0/ 
infantry struggled for the mastery ; regiments on the 
double-quick streamed across the open meadows, and 
the next moment, like two thunder clouds charged 
with lightning, burst in flame on each other, while 
the incessant roar of cannon shook the eartii. The 
surrounding inhabitants grew pale with affright, and 
the deafening reverberations rolled sullenly away, till 
they broke with a muffled sound over Fairfax and 
Alexandria, and even Washington itself,' blanching 
the cheeks of listeners and filling their hearts with 
vague fears. Those stationed near Tyler's position 
listened with intense eagerness to Hunter's and 
Heintzelman's charges in the northern woods, and 
ever and auon cheers were heard mingling with the 
roar of artillery. Some regiments flinched through 
want of proper officers, and Rickett's battery was lost 
by the cowardly flight of the Fire Zouaves, who had 
boasted of the deeds they would perform, beforehand. 
Others came gallantly into the fight for awhile, but 
soon broke and fled in dismay ; a few stood firm 
until all was lost. The Second Minnesota, ordered 
to the extreme right, moved for a mile across 
the field of battle at the quick and double- 
quick, and drew up within close pistol shot of 
a superior foe. Heintzelman was everywhere pres- 
ent — now in talking distance of the foe, and now 
dashing amid the wavering battalions to steady them. 
Where such men as he, and Porter, and Burnside, 
and Sprague led, there could not but be deeds of 
heroism; and where such batteries as OJriflRn's, and 
Pickett's, and the Rhode Island were directed by 
their respective commanders, the harvest of death 
was reaped fast. By little after noon, these two 
Hanking divisions had worked their desperate way 
down the farther banks of Bull Run, until they were 
opposite Tyler's position at the Stone bridge. The 
enemy hurried up regiment after regiment to arrest 
the reversed tide of battle, but all in vain. Tyler, 
sending forwsu-d reinforcements across the stream, 
brought help to the exhausted, thirsty troops, which 
had been marching and fighting ever since two o'clock 
in the morning of this hot July day. Sherman and 
Keyes led their brigades gallantly forward, and by 
two o'clock the battle was. to human view, won. Many 
of the eneniv were alreadv in full flight — the whole 



38 



THE EEBELLION. 



army borne back a mile and a half — and Beauregard 
was preparing to retreat to his lines at Manassas 
Junction, when clouds of dust, rising in the distance, 
told him that reinforcements were hurrying to his 
relief. As Blucher stole away from Grouchy at 
Wavres, to decide the fate of the Battle of Waterloo, 
so had Johnston beguiled Patterson, and pushing his 
troops forward by railroad, had now come to make a 
Waterloo defeat to the Federal arms. Hunter and 
Heintzelman, after their long march and long fight 
without rest or food, and part of the time without 
water, now found a fresh enemy approaching on their 
right flank and jDartly in their rear. It matters not 
whether this was the cause of the panic that followed 
or not, it made the loss of the battle certain. Ten 
thousand fresh troops thrown suddenly on these two 
divisions, that had been marching and fighting with- 
out any respite for thirteen hours, could have but one 
result. It must be remembered that those thirteen 
hours told heavier on our raw troops, fresh from the 
counting-house and workshops, than twenty-four 
would have done on old soldiers. An orderly retreat 
might have been effected but for the panic — nothing 
more. The brave and dauntless Heintzelmau gal- 
loped among the broken ranks in vain. Porter, Burn- 
side and others were helpless in the loosened, refluent 
flood. Griffin, raging like a young lion, at, as he be- 
lieved, the useless loss of his guns, turned savagely 
back, powerless to stay the reverse tide of battle. 
The gallant young Governor of Rhode Island, seeing 
that all was lost, spiked, with his own hands, the 
guns of his regiment before he fled. McDowell, 
Jiearing heavy cannonading down by Blackburn Ford, 
and fearing his right flank would be turned — which 
would secure the total annihilation of his force — 
galloped thither and drew up his reserve, under 
Miles, to arrest the progress of the enemy. 
The spectacle now, in the center, was pain- 
ful in the extreme — hosts of Federal troops, 
some detached from their regiments, all mingled in 
one disorderly route, were fleeing along the road and 
through the fields on either side. Army wagons, 
sutlers' teams, and private carriages, choked the pas- 
sage, tumbling against each other amid clouds of 
dust. Hacks, containing unlucky spectators of the 
battle, were smashed like glass, and the occupants 
lost sight of in the debris. Horses, flying wildly from 
the battle-field, many of them iu death agony, gal- 
loped at random forward, swelling the tumult, while 
wounded men, lying along the banks, appealed with 
raised hands to those who rode horses to be lifted 



behind. Then the artillery, such as was saved, came 
thundering along, smashing and overturning every- 
thing in its passage. The regular cavalry joined 
in the melee, adding to the accumulated terrors, for 
they rode down footmen without mercy. The trains 
from Hunter's division soon came rushing in from a 
branch road, and from every side fresh torrents 
swelled the confused and onrolling tide. The wounded 
were left to the tender mercies of the victors, and the 
roads and fields, along which, on this early Sabbath 
morning, such a confident, imposing array had passed, 
were black with terrified fugitives, and cumbered with 
abandoned cannons, wagons, arms and accoutrements. 
It was a wild flight. The calm presence of the reserve 
under Blencker, drawn up in line of battle at Cen- 
treville, checked the hitherto uncontrollable terror, 
but not sufficient to allow McDowell to make a stand 
there, and the turbulent stream rolled on towards 
Washington. As night deepened, the rain came 
down in torrents, drenching the living and dead 
alike. All niglit long the weary, straggling army 
toiled on, and at morning began to pour in tumultu- 
ous masses over Long bridge, carrying consternation 
to the Capital. Some regiments, however, preserved 
their order, and marched into Washington with ranks 
unbroken. 

The news of this terrible disaster, traveling over the 
electric'wires, made every cheek turn pale, and sent a 
shudder throughout the world. Not only was a 
great battle lost, but " The Capital is lost!" trembled 
on every tongue. On the heels of such a routed host, 
a mere section of the rebel army could enter Wash- 
ington. But it did not follow up its success. Whether 
the severe beating it had received up to the last mo- 
ment, or ignorance of the extent of the panic, or fear 
of losing all it had gained by pressing forward in the 
darkness on unknown dangers, restrained it — at all 
events, it attempted no pursuit, and the discomfited 
army had nothing but its own terrors, the darkness, 
storm and hunger and weariness to contend with. 

The battle-field presented a sickening appearance — 
the dead and wounded were everywhere, and citizens 
of a common country, of the same lineage — the 
blooming youth and the gray-haired man, lay, side by 
side, sprinkled with each other's blood. The pitiless 
rain came down upon the sufferers, whose low moans 
loaded the midnight air. * 

Our loss in killed, and wounded, and missing, 
amounted to nearly two thousand, of which one 
thousand four hundred and twenty-three were taken 
prisoners. Among the killed were Colonel Cameron, 



THE KEBELMON. 



:5'.i 



brother of the Secretary of War, and Colonel Slo- 
cum, of Khodi! Island, whose bodies were left on the 
battle-field. Among the prisoners taken, were Colo- 
nel C^orcoran, of New York city, and Mr. Ely, mem- 
ber of Congress from Rochester. Beside other tro- 
phies which the enemy secured were twentj'-three can- 
nons of various sizes, four thousand muskets, artillery 
wagons, ammunition and a large quantity of equip- 
ments and stores. Of our whole army, not twenty 
thousand had been in the fight, while the number of 
the rebels actually engaged at first was probably not 
much greater. We had the largest force in the field 
previous to Johnson's arrival, when they, both to- 
gether, outnumbered and outflanked us. 

The North, though at first stunned by the defeat, 
showed no discouragement. The press, however, 
was filled with clamors against this and that person, 
or set of persons, who had been instrumental in 
bringing it upon us. Less, however, than might have 
been expected, was visited on McDowell. There 
seemed to be an instinctive consciousness that he had 
i»een ruined by either the inefficiency, or cowardice, or 
treachery of Patterson ; — and the latter for some time 
after would scarcely have been safe in any Northern 
city. Others turned their wrath on the papers and the 
party whose cry "On to Richmond," had filled the 
land for weeks. General Scott, it was declared, had 
been forced to consent to a movement which his 
judgment disapproved ; and fierce denunciations 
were hurled at the heads of those who had attempted 
to control the military authorities. The adminis- 
tration came in for its share of abuse, and the want 
of confidence everywhere felt in its ability to con- 
duct us safely through the war, threatened for a 
while to produce a greater calamity than the defeat 
itself. But as the smoke of the conflict cleared 
away, it became easier to fix the blame. It was evi- 
dent, notwithstanding the many criticisms to the 
contrary, that McDowell had planned and cgnducted 
the battle wisely. The charge of overtasking the 
men was, perhaps, true ; but it is not shown how it 
could have been prevented. That the troops were 
not provided with sufficient food, was owing to the 
negligence of the subordinate odioers, and still more 
to the carelessness of the men who, not believing 
that the task of whipping the rebels was to be a 
serious one, did not prepare for their work, as older 
soldiers would have done. Many regiments were not 
properly officered, no doubt, but that was an evil 
that could not have been avoided. 

McDowell thought if he could have been supplied 



with the means of transportation, so as to have 
started earlier, as he desired to do, defeat might 
have been prevented, notwithstanding the other 
difficulties he had to contend with. But the 
enemy were thorougldy acquainted with his move- 
ments ; and it is more than probable if it had been 
necessary for Jolinston to be at Manassas earlier, he 
would have Iteen there. But it is unquestionably true 
that Patterson's failure to take care of Johnston 
made defeat certain, whether Beauregard, as he 
intended to do, had attacked McDowell, or waited, as 
he did, to receive him in position. To the believer in 
an over-ruling Providence there will appear reasons 
for this defeat that are not laid down in military 
books. 

To say nothing of the utter ruin that would assur- 
edly have overtaken an army of that size and com- 
position, had it succeeded then and attempted to 
march on Richmond — as it must have done, under 
the pressure of public opinion, and of the consequent 
greater peril to our cause, or of the other results that 
would have happened — that defeat was necessary to 
crush out the rash, headlong and too confident spirit 
with which we had entered on our task. Scarcely 
any price was too great to pay to secure such a result. 
Its permanent establishment over tlie Government 
would have driven us into such desperate straits that 
no avenue of escape would have l)een left us but by 
the way of military despotism. The struggle on which 
we had entered was too mighty, the war before us of 
too vast proportions, to be disposed of without the 
most careful and ample preparations. A battle was 
well enough to punish the audacity of the rebels, and 
secure the Capital; but the blind confidence and 
arrogant boastfulness that demanded it, would not 
have been contented with such a result. It had 
become a condition of our success that the public 
press and politicians should cease to direct the man- 
agement of the war, and that it should fall into the 
legitimate and proper hands. This the defeat at 
Bull Run secured, at least for a time. The nation took 
the attitude of calm reflection, and began to measure 
somewhat the mighty task before it. It unquestion- 
ably hurt us abroad, but that could not be helped. 

The huge blunder of taking three months' men 
now became apparent. It was seen that a grand 
army, in all its appointments and preparatory drill, 
must be had J)efore any important movement could 
be made. We found that there was a great difference 
between offensive and defensive war. The latter can 
be carried on in a country difficult of access without 



40 



THE KEBELLION. 



much previous drill ; the former, never. The New 
Eughind farmers fought like veterans behind their 
temporary breastworks on Bunker Hill, but had 
affairs been reversed, and they been compelled to 
mount the naked slope in face of a murderous fire, 
as were the British regulars, they never would have 
moved with unbroken ranks for the last and third time, 
as the latter did, into the face of death. Here was the 
cause of our error — we forgot that we were to wage 



an offensive war — carry entrenchments and storm 
positions held by our own flesh and blood. 

On the top of this disaster came the news that on 
the twenty-fifth of this month, Major Lyude surren- 
dered Fort Fillmore, in New Mexico, with some seven 
hundred men, to a body of Texaus, without firing a 
shot, and under circumstances that left no doubt of 
premeditated treason. 



CONTENTS. 



PART SECOND. 



CHAPTEK VIII. 

.JlLY-AUGUST, ISCl. 

State of tlie Army after Bull Run — Its Disappearance from the Field — A New Army to be Raised — 
O'-eatness of the Task — McClellan Summoned to the Capital to Take Chief Command — Banks and Fremont — 
The Latter sent to St. Louis — The Enemy's Outposts in Sight of the Capital — Rising of the North — Lyon 
Advances on McCulloch — Kentucky Votes to Remain in the Union — Fremont in St. Louis — Battle of Wilson's 
Creek and Death of Lyon — Retreat of the Union Army — Public Feeling on the Death of Lyon — Diabolical 
Spirit of the Southern Clergy. 

CHAPTER I.\. 

ArorsT, ISiil. 

Action of the General Government — Arrests — Confiscation — Refuses to Excliange Prisoners — Retaliation 
by Davis — McClellan Quells a Mutiny in the Seventy-Ninth Regiment — Southern Privateers — Wreck of the 
Jeff. Davis — Surprise of Tyler at Summcrville— Wool sent to Fortress Monroe — Footo Ordered West to take 
Charge of Gunboats — Naval Attack on Cajie Hatteras^Error of the Secretary of the Navy — Proclamation of 
Fremont — Effect of — President Requires Ilim to Modify it — The Rebels Occupy Columbus and Hickman — 
State of Affairs in Western Virginia — Battle of Carnifax Ferry and Retreat of Floyd. 

CHAPTER X. 

Sri'Tkmhek, 1801. 

Lexington Attacked — Repulse of Rains — Distress of Mulligan — Heroism of His Brigade — Fall of Lex- 
ington — Fremont Blamed for it — Charges Against Him — He takes the Field — Attitude of Kentucky — Its 
Legislature Orders the Rebel Forces to Leave the State — MoGoffin— General Lee sent to Western Virginia— 



CONTENTS. 



Fight at Cheat MouBtain Pass— Defeat of Lee at Elk Water — Defeat of John Washington— Position of the 
Armies on the Potomac — Fortifications Around Washington — Occupation of Munson's Hill— Observance of the 
National Fast. 

CHAPTER XI. 

October, 1861. 

Position of the Two Great Armies— Expectations and Feelings of the People— Gallant Naval Exploit 
at Pensacola — Destruction of the Privateer Judah — Occupation of Ship Island — Western Virginia — Fight at 
Green Brier Creek— Attack of the Enemy at Cape Hatteras — Surprise of the Wilson Zouaves — Attack of the 
Blockading Fleet at the Mouth of the Mississippi by the Ram Manassas— Fight at Lebanon, Missouri— Fight at 
Fredericktown— Fight at Blue Mills Ferry— Battle of Wild Cat Camp, Kentucky. 

CHAPTER XIL 
October, 1861. 

Affairs on the Upper Potomac— Fight at Bolivar— A Gallant Action — Reconnoissance Across the River- 
Battle of Balls Bluff— Death of Baker— Heroic Devotion— Strange Conduct of Gen. Stone— Indignation of the 
People— McClellan Hurries to the Scene of Action— Col. Lander takes the Place left Vacant by the Death of 
Baker— Is Wounded— Affairs in Missouri— Gallant Charge of Fremont's Body Guard. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

November, 1861. 

General Dissatisfaction— Blockade of the Capital— Great Secret Naval Expedition— Overtaken by a 
Storm— Joy of the South and fear of the North— Arrival at Port Royal— Hilton Head and Bay Island- 
Preparations to Attack them— The Attack'ed— The Victory — Strange Inactivity of the Land Forces— Grand 
Review of the Army of the Potomac. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

November, 1861. 

Expedition from Cairo — Battle of Belmont — Nelson's Expedition to Piketou — A Long March — The 
Battle — Rout of tlie Enemy — Nelson' Order — Conduct of the Secretary of War — Removal of Fremont — 
Hunter appointed in His Place — Capture of Mason and Slidell — Exultation of the People — Creates a Storm of 
Indignation in England — War Threatened — Their Surrender Demanded — Sinking of Stones in Charleston 
Harbor — The Negroes and Cotton of Port Royal. 



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